DOOM Effect
by zrocker119
Summary: Alexander Carter was a normal man that lived a normal life. That is until he was hit and killed by a drunk driver. Now dead he is offered a chance by a powerful being to be a part of something much that he thought only existed in fiction. Mass Effect SI story with the MC starting out in DOOM 2016. Rating should be for obvious reasons. Pairings have been decided.
1. Prologue

**Zrocker119: Yeah I know what you're all thinking. What the hell are you doing starting another story!? Sorry but I can't help it! I've been on a SI Mass Effect fanfic binge read for several months and have played through DOOM 2016 like four times now, so naturally I thought up this story here. Speaking of this story it will also be an SI, sort of. I'm not going to use my really name and age but all of the actions and thoughts will be pretty close to how I would act or think in most of the situations that my character will be in. Except for the DOOMGUY stuff because, well...no sane human being could do those things.**

 **As for weapons my character will be sticking with all of the campaign weapons, no multi-player. Also some weapons will have both mods equipped at all times. They are as follows:**

 **Heavy Assault Rifle(HAR)**

 **Plasma Rifle**

 **All other weapons will have their mods switched like normal.**

 **Well enough of the boring authors not that most people have skipped**

 **I don't own DOOM or Mass Effect as they belong to their respective owners.**

 **DOOM Effect**

"You be careful out there." The bartender says to me as I get up and leave.

"Relax Jimmy, I'm the most careful person I know." I wish him a good night as I put on my old duster and exit the bar and into the cool night air.

I should probably introduce my self. My name is Alexander Carter. I'm 28 years old and live on my own. Not by choice mind you, I just don't have the most luck when it comes to women. Hell, I haven't been in a serious relationship in 4 years.

I'm not even a bad looking guy either. I'm pretty tall, standing at 6 foot 4 inches, broad shoulders and have large muscles. Shoulder length dark-brown, almost black, hair and a faded goatee. My eyes are hazel and I have a faint scar that goes through my right eyebrow.

The main reason as to why I can't hold a relationship is because so far all of the women that I've dated, which isn't that much now that I think about it, find my hobbies to be childish.

I'm a 3d animator and a damn good one, but I like to play video games and write fanfiction in my spare time. What's so wrong with that? It doesn't anyways as the last girl that I went out with just dumped me a few hours ago. She was a bit of a bitch but I've always been one to try and work things out. Didn't work.

My older brother would probably just shake his head and laugh. The two of us would then have a few drinks and play a round or two of what ever video game we felt like playing. His wife, A beautiful lady by the way, would come in a little later and politely ask us to keep it down as the babies are trying to sleep.

Since he was busy, I decided to go to the bar just down the street from my apartment and have a few drinks. By a few I mean one or two shots of Makers Mark whisky. I love that stuff. Had my first shot of it with my dad when I was 17 and have been drinking it sense. Only got shitfaced once though. I drink to enjoy, not to get drunk.

I look up at the night sky for a few seconds to admire the stars. I did this all the time growing when I was young, especially when I went on camping trips. I don't like camping as much as I used to but I do like to enjoy a cloudless night sky whenever I can.

I take a deep breath. "It sure is a beautiful night." Reaching the end of the block I look both ways and seeing nothing coming I start to cross. I'm about halfway there when the sound of screeching tires reaches my ears.

Turning I see a car less then 30ft speeding towards me. You know the saying, a deer caught in head lights? Well switch that deer with me. It takes only a split second for my brain to process what was going to happen and sends the danger signal to the rest of my body. That split second was one too long.

The car takes my legs out from under me and I crash into the wind shield, roll over the hood and hit the ground with a sickening thud. I was staring at the night sky one again only this time, I'm choking on blood. My blood.

My vision starts to go blurry when somebody kneels next to me and starts shaking me by the shoulders. I can't hear anything that they're saying and can only assume that it's something along the lines of 'You're going to be okay'.

Tears gather in my eyes as I struggle to breath. It hurts. Oh god does it hurt. I don't know how long I laid there, but I feel my self being picked up and set back down and the sky is replaced by the roof of a vehicle. Probably an ambulance. It doesn't matter though, I'm too far gone.

My last thoughts are on my family. It had been so long since I had last seen any of them, and now I'll never get to.

Alexander Carter was declared dead at 11:28 PM on September 5th 2016, having died on the way to the hospital.

* * *

"...Well, this is lame." I said as I floated in what I can only describe as a endless white space. I say floating because I can't feel anything under me. "Is this purgatory? It must be purgatory because I'm not seeing any pearly gates or fire and brimstone."

Wow I'm being really mellow about all of this. Like I'm surprising myself with how calm I am right now. I mean, I did just die for fucks sake! I should not be this calm! I'll never be able to see my friends and family again! Never find the right girl and start a family of my own! Never accomplish what I wanted to!

WHY AM I SO CALM!?

...Ah there's the freaking out.

"This is usually the part where people start freaking out."

I'm startled out of my monologuing by a voice that emanated from behind me. Turning around I see a sharply dressed man standing there.

He has on a black suit and tie, the jacket being open, a white dress shirt, black dress shoes and a fedora. His eyes are what catch my attention though as they have no visible pupils. They just glow with an almost blinding white light.

"God? Is that you?" I ask taking a shot in the dark.

The man grimaces. "No. I've got better things to do then watch over all of you mortals."

...Wow this guy sound like a dick.

"I'm not that bad."

...A dick that can apparently read my mind.

"Stop that." he snaps

"...What number am I-"

"4, can we please move on now?" He asks giving me a glare that dares me to think of something else.

...Ok.

He just now growled at me.

"Anyway," He says taking off his fedora, revealing his slicked back hair, and bowing. "I'm The Creator. An immortal being the has the gift to see into the what is known as the multiverse."

I stare at him and blink, "Wow. I just got so many flash backs from several fanfictions that started very similar to what you just said. Is that normal?"

"Quite," He puts his had back on. "I'll be frank with you as you've read something similar before. You. Are. Dead." He waits a second before continuing. "And since you're dead I've come to make you an offer that you'll most likely not refuse. With being able to see every universe in existence I've, as you humans would put it, seen some seriously messed up shit. One of which is this." A familiar looking thing appears in his hand.

"Is that a copy of the Mass Effect trilogy?" I ask recognizing one of the many games that I have played and beaten.

"Very observant of you. Yes that is exactly what it is and quite frankly," His body shakes with rage. "I find the ending to be complete bullshit!" He crushes the case in his hand much to my dismay.

"Hey I thought the same thing but that doesn't mean you have to go and break it."

"SILENCE!" He yells pointing a finger at me. "I'm a huge fan of the first two, to the point that I refused to look into the multiverse and see how the series ended. SO I waited patiently for the third installment like everyone else and how do the developers repay us?"

"With a great game that has a shitty ending." A said voicing my thoughts.

"EXACTLY!" I jumped a bit as he appears beside me. When did the ground even get there for me to even be able to jump. "But with your help we can change the monstrosity that is the end of ME3," He puts one arm around my shoulder as he holds his other one upwards with his hand out stretched. "And turn it into something that is a worthy successor of the first two games."

"...You're a lonely man aren't you."

He pats me on the chest. "That's besides the point. Basically I'm offering you a chance to be a part of something great. What do you say?"

I rub my chin in thought," Well I'd have to go home and ask my mommy for permission."

The Creator's eye twitched, "I don't need to read your mind to know that that was sarcasm."

I sigh as I now had nothing better to do, "I guess I'm up for it. Who wouldn't want to be a part of one of the best game trilogies in the early 2000's? So at what point in the games am I getting thrown into? Eden Prime? Shepard being rebuilt?"

The smile that threatened to split his face frightened me to no ends. "Oh no. As you are now, you wouldn't last a second in that universe. To fix this I'll be placing you somewhere else to receive some training. You won't be long, only 10-12 hours at most."

I start to back away, "I'm...not going to like this one bit am I?"

"On the contrary," He snaps his fingers and a black portal of some sorts opens up behind me. "It'll be hell for you." Before for I could protest he shoves me into the portal and all I can see is darkness.

* * *

.

.

.

.

Well this is boring.

I can't really see anything as where ever I am it's completely black. Was everything that just happened a dream? Did I even die?

 **"They are rage, brutal, without mercy. But you. You will be worse. Rip and tear until it is done."**

Well that doesn't sound good. Also that sounds very familiar. I can't quite remember where I heard it before.

Suddenly the lights are back on as what ever was covering my vision moves upwards revealing it to be the top of...a tomb. Was I buried alive or something similar?

I try to move again only to see that my arms are chained down to the sarcophagus. I tug a little harder when I hear the sound of a roar and a strange gurgle.

To my right a creature that looks like some fucked up corpse shambles its way towards me.

Not wanting to find out if it is friendly I pull even harder on my restraints.

'Come on! Break damn it!' With one final yank the cuff breaks. I look to see the creature lung at me.

I act completely on instinct and grab it by the head, my thumb going into it empty eye socket. I hold it back for several seconds as it tries snapping at me before bringing its head down on the sarcophagus.

 **SPLAT!**

I stare in amazement as its head explodes into a gory mess.

Shaking that feeling off I quickly break my last shackle and fall to the floor. Getting up I see a pistol of some kind and quickly grab it.

Now armed I look around to find that there are more creatures of similar appearance heading towards me.

I don't hesitate to put a round in each and everyone of their heads.

As the now headless corpse fall to the floor I take a look around at my surroundings. I'm in a futuristic look room that is covered in blood. A lot of blood. Not only that but piles of copses and and bones. Then the smell hit me.

Falling to my hands and knees I begin puking. I puke so much that I began dry heaving.

I eventually stop and look around a bit more, doing my best to keep my gaze off of the gore. Pretty fucking hard to do by the way when said gore is everywhere. Like dripping from the ceiling kind of everywhere.

I glance at the weapon in my hand and take some time to admire it. I looks like a high tech version of a handgun. I fiddle around with it for a second and end up hitting a button that causes circle on the back to slide backwards, revealing a blue cylinder. Then the bottom front splits open and moves forward. I look it over for a second longer before hitting the button again and everything slides back into place.

Nice.

I look down at my self and openly gape at what I see. Now, I was always a pretty big guy, working out whenever I can and doing MMA(mixed martial arts) with my brother, but I have never been this jacked in my life. Seriously, I could grind meat on this six pack!

Pulling my gaze from my ripped body, I go to what looks like some kind of control panel. I hit the button.

 **"Begin play back."**

A blue hologram of a woman appears besides me. I could only guess her age as the hologram ins't very detailed but she seems pretty old.

She walks passed me and towards the sarcophagus that I was previously trapped in.

She stares at it and says, "We have to contain this."

...Well that was pretty fucking ominous. Clearly she was talking about keeping me locked inside of that thing but for what reason?

The door slides open and I leave the room.

I stop once I see what lies on the other side.

"No fucking way." I said as I approach one of the most badass looking suits I have ever seen. And it's one that I know very well.

The suit is mostly green, silver and brown in color, with slightly lighter legs and helmet, and is clearly built for somebody that is, well...build.

It's the Praetor Suit from the new DOOM reboot, which means only one this.

"I'M IN FUCKING DOOM!"

Holy shit, I'm in one of the most bloody, violent and badass video game to every be created. And I'm the DOOM Marine.

I'M FUCKING DOOMGUY!

Holy shit I'm fanboying so hard right now. I mean come on, I'm the Doomguy! The bane of hell itself. This is the guy that causes demons to shit themselves just by hearing his name. The guy that rips his enemies to limb and beats them to death with his own two hands and what ever big fucking gun he happens to have on hand at the time.

By the way which is all of them!

'If I'm Doomguy now,' I think. 'Then no wonder they wanted to keep me under.'

Reaching forward I barely touch the chest plate of the armor when my mind is invaded by a rush of images.

They move too fast for me to make much sense of them. All I can really tell is that something really bad has happened or is going to happen.

Is this what Shepard felt like when he/she had the information from the Prothean beacon shoved into his/her skull?

No wonder he/she was so confused.

The vision ends and I find holding the suits helmet. Looking down I see that I had somehow put the rest of the armor on correctly.

That's pretty convenient.

Looking at the helmet I brush some nonexistent dust off of the visor, flip it around and place it over my head. I hear a hissing sound as the helmet is sealed into place.

I turn and grab the nearby monitor and turn it on. It turns on and the following word flash onto the screen.

 **Demonic invasion in progress**

Huh...that's pretty strait forward.

...I like it.

Wanting to find out the details I swipe my hand over part that says status report, only for the word denied to pop up. Reading more I find out the main satellite dish is currently offline and that I'll have to power it back up. I hit a button and my suit downloads the directions.

 **Incoming voice com**

This aught to be good.

 **"Hello. I'm Dr. Samuel Hayden. I'm the head of this facility. I think that we can work together to solve this problem in a way that benefits us both."** I chose the fuck off option and shove the monitor to the side with enough force to send it colliding into the wall and smashing it.

I wasn't going to deal with the docs shit. I played the game and I know how this all ends. So I'm going to change it in a way that only benefits me.

* * *

Several hows and many hundreds of demons, including the Cyberdemon, the Hell Guards and the Spider Mastermind, I find my self floating in some sort of containment field with Dr. Hayden walking towards me.

Fuck I couldn't change how the story ends.

Dr. Hayden speaks in his synthetic voice. "You've won-It's over. You stopped the invasion and closed the portal. But it's come at a price- Argent, VEGA. This entire operation. You see, I've watched your work- come to understand your motivation. You think the only way is to kill them all- leave nothing behind- and you may be right. But we can't just shut all down. Without Argent Energy it will be worse. I don't expect you to agree."

He holds out his hand and the crucible is torn from mine and into his. "But with this we can continue our work." He looks back at me and puts a hand to his chest. "I am not the villain of this story. I do what I do because there is no choice."

He looks up as the new coordinates for the tether are finished setting in. "Our time is up. I can't kill you- but I won't have you standing in our way." Flexing his hand a large blade that seems to be made of raw argent energy appears from the crucible. "Until we see each other again."

"Dr. Hayden," He stops and looks at me as I speak to him for the first time. "We both want what's best for humanity, on that we agree, but you're going about it the wrong way. Their world isn't the answer. Hell doesn't like being used and if you continue down this path...more incidents like this will happen, and they will grow in number. There are other ways Dr. If there is one thing us humans are good at it's beating the odds when they are stacked against us. You just have to take the time and find out how."

I stares at me for several moment before walking away. The tether begins to activate and I am teleported away, but not before I hear him say.

"That is time that humanity doesn't have."

* * *

I find myself back in a familiar blank void with The Creator standing in front of me.

"You enjoy your trip." He finds himself gazing down the barrels of my double barrel shotgun.

With my other hand I reach up and remove my helmet. "Does it look like I had a fucking good time?"

He looks me over really quick. "No," He move the gun out of his face. "But you did just go through the quickest route of becoming a nigh unstoppable badass. Now you are more then prepared to help Shepard on his/her journey."

My super shotgun blinks out of existence and I put my helmet back on. "You did put me in DOOM of all places. It was either get good or die a very painful death."

 _"Excuse me, but what is going on?"_ A synthetic voice says from my helmet.

"V-VEGA!" I said recognizing the voice. How was he here. I then remember that I made a back up of him and put him on a chip right before I blew up his core.

 _"Yes it's me, but I am very confused. Can you please explain what is going on?"_ He asks.

I can only imagine what is going through his core processor right now.

"huh," The Creator says rubbing his chin. "This is an unexpected turn of events."

Shaking my head I do my best to inform the AI of what is going on. It takes some time but I eventually finish.

"And that is the gist of what is going on." I say as I finish my story.

VEGA processes all of this new information and comes up with a response in seconds. _"...Dr. Hayden always considered the possibility of alternate universes, but to find out that ours is a form of gaming entertainment in yours is...highly disturbing."_

"Dude I died, woke up in this place, then later woke up in a video game and am now waiting to get sent into another one. None of this shit makes sense." I deadpanned.

 _"If at all possible I would like to accompany you on your mission,"_ VEGA says suddenly. _"I wish to repay you for saving me and I feel that me accompanying you would accomplish my goal of doing so."_

That...doesn't sound too bad actually. With VEGA being there, things like hacking and information gathering would become much easier. There's only one problem though. "VEGA, the place we will be going is extremely against the use of AI's, to the point of them being illegal."

 _"In that case I will limit myself to doing tasks that are suited for an advanced VI,"_ VEGA says after a split second. _"Unless of course the situation requires my immediate assistance in which I will operate at maximum capacity."_

Damn that's a pretty good idea. I look at The Creator who just nods his head.

"VEGA would be pretty useful to have around." He snaps his fingers and another portal like before opens up. "I can't chose where you end up, but I can provide you with a back ground. Once you wake up all the necessary information will automatically be implanted into your brain."

I nod and approach the portal. Before I step through I look back at him, "I may not seem like it but I am thankful for you bringing me here, you could've easily just let me die and go on my way. but if it's possible I want you to do something for me."

He nods to show that he is listening.

"You got something I can write on?" A paper and pencil appear in my hand. I quickly jot something down and give it to him. He looks it over and pockets it.

"I'll make sure that this gets to your family."

"That's all I ask for." With nothing more to say I walk through the portal and my journey into the world of Mass Effect begins.

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: Huh...pretty good right? Well don't worry things only get better(hopefully) from here. Now to give credit where it's due, I was directly inspired to write this after reading the first chapter of BioshockerN7's story 'Is it real or is it fiction'. So if you get the chance go and check him out. Well until next time please review as I like reading them and if you want favorite and follow. I'll be writing this story regardless.**


	2. FUCK SLAVERS!

**Zrocker119: HOLY SHIT! I was not expecting such a positive response for just the prologue and I haven't even gotten to the really good parts yet. I hope this chapter help satisfies your thirst for blood and gore, cause there is going to be a bit of it.**

 **See first chapter for the disclaimer.**

 **I also decided to put this out a day early as it may be awhile before I can post the next one.**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

...

...

...

Uhg...why is it that whenever I get sent somewhere new, I always find myself sitting in absolute darkness? Also, I have a splitting headache this time.

My helmet visor suddenly comes on and the words system rebooting flash onto the screen. Well that explains why I can't see anything.

Once my suit finished its reboot I take a moment to check my surroundings. I seem to be in a holding cell of some kind. No, a cage would be a more befitting description.

"The fuck am I in a cage for?" I haven't even killed anything yet.

"Look who is finally awake." I look across the hall to see that there is another cage. There are many more people in it but the man leaning up against the bars is the one that spoke.

I look him up and down. He's a pretty old man with graying hair, easily in his late 40's possibly early 50's. I say the first thing that comes to mind. "You look like you've seen some better days."

The man touches his blackened eye and bruised face, "Yeah well Batarian's don't really like it when you go shooting up their slavers. I got lucky and only woke up with these."

"...What?" I ask in a steely voice.

The man gives a dry laugh, "Hate to tell you but we're stuck on a Batarian slaving ship."

It takes me a second to process the mans words. "How did I get here?"

He shrugs, "Heard the slavers talking about how they found you unconscious in a disabled shuttle. They couldn't get that strange armor off of you so they just tossed you into a reinforced cell."

Before we can talk more the door at the end of the hall opens up and one of the slavers comes walking in. He goes up to one of the other cages and goes in with a pistol drawn.

There is some shouting and the sounds of something hitting the wall.

The Batarian comes back out dragging a rather cute girl behind him. She's barely out of her teen years.

I could feel my blood burning as the girl struggles to break free from his grip. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what he had in store for her.

Making sure that the suits external speakers are off I ask, "VEGA you there?"

A second goes by before VEGA's calm tone responds.

 _"Yes. Do you require my assistance?"_

"I want you to try and hack into my cell."

 _"It will take some time...done. Do you wish for me to let you out?"_

"Wait for my signal." I switch my speakers back on. "Hey four eyes!"

Okay it's not the best insult I could've come up with but worked in getting the bastards attention.

The Batarian looks at me with narrowed eyes and throws the girl to the floor, who does her best to try and disappear into the wall.

"You say something to me human?" He asks.

"You see any other fucker with for eyes around?" I respond moving closer to the bars.

I wait for him to come closer. "Better watch your self human!" He takes another step closer and points his pistol at my head.

Before he can even blink one of his four eyes I pull his arm into the cell and smash his elbow into the bars. There's a loud snapping sound and the slaver falls to the floor screaming, his arm bending the opposite direction than it's supposed to.

The cell opens and I step through. "Thank you VEGA."

 _"You are very welcome."_ VEGA responds. _"I took the liberty and scrambled all communications with this vessel. I also hacked into the device on the slavers arm and downloaded this extranet. The abundance of information is quite fascinating."_

"You have fun VEGA. I'm going to ask my new friend here some questions." I turn my attention back to the slaver currently fumbling with his gun.

I watch in amusement as he finally gets a hold on it and fires at me. The grain size rounds bounce harmlessly off of the armor of the Praetor suit. Once the gun over heats I grab him by his head and bring him to my level, leaving his feet dangling off of the floor.

"I'm going to ask you some questions now."

"FUCK OFF!"

I slam his head into the wall and let him drop to the floor. I held back enough so that he wouldn't be knocked out, but I bet it still hurt like a bitch.

I don't let him think on it too much as I raise my foot and bring it down on his left kneecap, shattering it.

"AUUGH!"

I grab his head again but this time I start digging my thumb and pointer finger slowly into one of his eyes. "How many of you are there?"

"G-go to hell!"

I make a tisking sound and drive my fingers in. He thrashes and screams as I move them around and I pull his eye out of its socket with a sickening pop.

I put my fingers back over one of his remaining 3 eyes. "How many of you are there?" I repeat the question with the same ice cold tone.

"2-20. Including me."

"How many people have you got lock in these cages?" I move my fingers closer to his eye, making him squirm.

"A little over a hundred!"

"Be a little more specific. I want to know the species."

"Humans, Asari and a single Quarian!"

Finished with my questions I set him down and pat him comfortingly on the side of his head. "Good job. I think you deserve a break."

He lets out a sigh of relief. He looks up and the last thing he sees is the bottom of my boot.

I step off of the bloody mess that is now the slavers skull and grab his pistol. I approach the girl that he had dragged out and offer her a hand.

She's obviously shaken from my rather brutal interrogation but it was far to quick for my liking, given what was going to happen to her. If I had the time I would've broken every bone in his body and then moved on to removing his genitals.

Wow...over the last 12 hours I've really become one sick bastard.

After a moment she hesitantly takes my hand and I help her to her feet. Turning my gaze the the man I was talking to before I open his cell.

"Know how to use one of these?" I ask handing him the weapon.

If he is even slightly disturbed by what I just did he does a good job at hiding it. He looks down the sights and nods. "18 years Alliance N7 special forces. Recently retired."

"Good. Open these cages and keep these people safe. I'll clear the rest of the ship and contact you when I'm finished." I say as I walk in the direction the slaver came from.

"James," The man says. '"James Adums."

"Alexander Carter." I say introducing myself.

"You sure you don't want backup?"

I smirk even though he can't see it and in a dim flash of light, I'm holding my combat shotgun. "Trust me, I'll be fine." I walk through the door and shut it behind me.

"VEGA I need you to run a scan of the ship. Tag all Batarian's as hostile and the rest as civilians."

 _"Scanning...scan complete. It seems your friend was telling the truth. I count 19 hostiles remaining. 5 are located on the bridge, 10 in the living quarters and the last 4 are in the engine room along with what I'm detecting to be a Quarian."_ VEGA informs me.

"They most likely have them working on the engine. Quarian's are known for being the best engineers in the galaxy." I decide to go and clear the engine room first.

* * *

"What's taking so long?"

Hearing the same question for the umpteenth time Tali responds with the same answer. "I'm working as fast as I can. Bosh'tet." She whispers the last part under her breath.

She had been in the middle of her pilgrimage, on a human colony near the edge of the terminus system. A pleasant little place as the people living there didn't treat her like some pest. But then these slavers came. They over ran the local militia in only an hour and captured everyone else.

She got luck that their ship started having engine problems shortly after she got captured, so they're having her fix it which in turn keeps them from hurting her.

She was worried about the others though. They're nice people.

She curses as something sparks.

This ship hasn't had a proper tune up in years. How the hell has it not blown up yet!? Let alone move around!

She continues to try and repair the garbage engine in the hopes that it doesn't blow up in her face, when the door to the engine room is suddenly blown off of the wall and smashes into one of the Batarian's watching her, turning him into a mess of blood and gore.

"KEELAH!" Tali shouts and dives for cover.

* * *

 **-Right before breaching the engine room-**

Reaching the engine room door I stop and have VEGA run another scan.

 _"The Quarian is on the far left side of the room. One Batarian's on each side of the door, another is directly across from it and the last is near the Quarian. I'm marking them on your hud."_

5 dots appear on my hud, 4 red and 1 blue.

I equip the cluster bomb mod onto my shotgun, bring it to bear and squeeze the trigger.

 **BOOM!**

The cluster bomb sends the door flying across the room and smashes into the opposite wall, one of the slavers being caught between the two.

I rush in going low and swipe of feet of the right guard out from under him. As he falls my fist collides with his face, causing it to explode. Brain matter splatters the floor, wall and me.

Whipping around I press my weapon up against the other guards chest and fire. The wall behind him is painted a nice shade of red with his blood.

"Let go of me you bosh'tet!"

I turn aound and see that the last Batarian using the Quarian as a shield with a pistol to her head.

I say her cause the Quarian's features are clearly feminine. That and I recognize who it is.

Tali'zorah nar rayya.

Damn, she went through some shit before meeting Shepard.

"Drop the weapon or I blow this space rats head off." The slaver says putting his finger on the trigger.

I pause and think about what to. The combat shotgun won't do in this situation as the spread could possible hit Tali and rupture her suit. I don't let my gun go but I do lower it to my side.

My other hand behind my back.

"Good now I'm gonna-" Before either of them could blink I raise my other hand, the energy pistol now in it and put a hole in the slavers gun hand, blowing his trigger finger clean off.

As he screams in pain he lets go of Tali and I close the distance between us. I grab his head and bury my thumbs in his eyes and pull. His screams last only for a second longer before his head and upper body are torn in two, his guts and intestines spilling onto my feet.

Throwing the corpse to the side, I turn to Tali who backs away in fear.

Maybe I should've done that a little cleaner.

Eh, too late now.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine. I think? Keelah, you just tore that slaver in half!" She says rubbing her shoulders and shuddering.

I resort to the default response for situations like this and simply shrug. "Regardless of how I did it, you're safe and he's dead."

She looks at me with what I assume to be uncertainty. "I guess you're right. Thank you..."

Reaching up I remove my helmet, revealing my now short hair, only an inch long and sightly paler complexion. "Alexander Carter, but please just call me Alex. And you are?" I ask pretending not to already know who she is as it would be both weird and suspicious if I didn't.

"Tali'zorah nas rayya."

I nod and say, "I wish it were under better circumstances but it's nice to meet you Tali."

She looks around at the death and destruction I had just wrought. "...Same here."

Looking around I loot a katanna shotgun from one of the bodies. Looking at Tali, I ask. "Know how to use one of these?"

I toss it to her and she catches it. She looks it over and pumps it. "Of course. All Quarian's receive combat training before leaving the Migrant Fleet."

Putting my helmet back on I motion for her to follow me. The two of us leave the engine room and make our way through the halls.

"Where are we going?"

I don't break my stride. "We are going nowhere. I am going to clear the rest of the ship of slavers while you head to the cargo hold and regroup with the rest of the captives."

"What, no!" Tali says stopping as we come to intersecting hallways. "I'm sticking with you."

I turn to face her. "Look kid, this isn't some training exercise. This is combat. There's no retry's, no checkpoints or saved games. If you fail you die, and I don't feel like having a kid that's probably on her pilgrimage get killed on my watch."

"First of all, I'm not a kid. Second, I'm more than capable of taking care of my self." Tali says getting in my face. Well as best as she could anyway. I am quite a bit taller than her.

We hold one anothers gazes for several second, before I smirk beneath my helmet. "Alright."

She must have expected me to keep arguing because she stumbles back a bit. "W-what really?"

"Yep," I say heading towards the crews quarters. "I riled you up to see if you had any bite to your bark. You passed, now let's get moving."

Tali watches me walk away before following, "Must be a human thing."

I move quickly through the halls. I'm surprised to see Tali keeping up with me no problem. Them again this ship isn't really all that large, most likely a cruiser.

We arrive at the door to the crews living quarters and I have us stop before the doors sensor can pick us up.

"So what's the plan?" Tali asks.

"Well normally I go in guns blazing, bash in some skulls, maybe rip off a limb or two and proceed to the next room." I turn towards her. "But I get the feeling that my normal strategy won't work with you here."

Her glowing eyes narrow at me. "There is nothing strategic about what you just said. If that's really what you normally do, then I'm surprised to see that you're still alive."

I choose to retort with, "Yeah, well it's called being a badass!"

Tali just sighs. "Can we please just come up with some sort of plan?"

I sag my shoulders in defeat. "Fine. How about we-"

I'm interrupted by the sound of the door opening and one of the slavers walking out. He stops mid stride and stares at us with wide eyes.

I look at Tali almost pleadingly making her sigh and nod. We both raise out shotguns and pull the triggers. The Batarian's whole upper body is eviscerated by the combined power of the two close combat weapons.

"Looks like we're going with your plan." Tali says grudgingly.

I laugh and pull out a grenade, "Relax." I said as I toss it into the room. It goes off a few seconds later followed by some screams. "My way is the fun way!"

I charge in head first into an onslaught of bullets while Tali hangs back.

"Keelah." She mutters to herself and activates her omni tool, bringing out her combat drone. "Go get them Chatika!"

I move through the room with deadly efficiency. 2 of the remaining 9 inside were killed by the grenade and another 2 were stunned by its concussive blast, making them easy targets for my shotgun. The remaining 5 dive behind any available cover and take pot shots at me.

Not wanting to test the limits of my armors protecting against sustaining gunfire, I drop behind a crate that is up against a wall. I wait for their weapons to over heat before popping back up, only this time though, I'm armed with the HAR and let loose a steady stream of hot lead.

Looking through the scope I get a close up of the 50 caliber rounds easily overwhelm one slavers kinetic barrier and turn his head, torso and arms into a fine misty cloud.

Hitting a button, a wave of micro missiles fly across the room and connect to 2 others. They all detonate 3 seconds later and I add 2 more to my kill count.

I move on to finish off the rest of the poor bastards but apparently Tali beats me to it. 1 is twitching on the ground with post death spasms after having his nervous system fired by her drone while the other slumps against the wall with a hole the size of my fist in his chest.

"Where did that weapon come from?" Tali asks eyeing the HAR in my hands.

I shrug my shoulders, "Trade secret. Buy me a few drinks and maybe I'll share it with you."

Her posture says that she does't want to drop the subject but she nods anyway. "If we live through this, I'll empty the whole damn bar."

"Girl after my own heart." I'm fairly certain that she just rolled her eyes at me.

* * *

"Stop please! You can't do this!"

I ignore the screaming slaver captain and shut the door, trapping him and the rest of his crew inside. My hand hovers over the monitor for a second and I press the open button.

They say no one can hear you scream in space.

Good thing that's true cause I'm pretty sure the captain and his crew all screamed like bitches as they got sucked out of the airlock.

I wipe my hands, turn to Tali and say, "Well I would consider this a job well done." Ha, finally got her to chuckle.

I stroll on past her and take a seat in the captains chair. I fiddle with the controls for a bit before realizing that I have know idea what I'm doing and have VEGA turn on the speaker system.

"Ladies and gentlemen this is your new captain speaking, as the last one passed away recently due to a sudden case of decompression. The distress beacon has been activated and my good friend Tali here says that a Turian patrol should be here within the next 12-16 hours. You are all free to move about the ship but I strongly recommend staying clear of the engine room and the crews quarters. Trust me, you don't want to know."

With that said VEGA switches the speakers off and I let out a tired sigh. While I was busy taking over the ship, VEGA was searching through the vast extra net and came upon a rather disappointing discovery.

The attack of Eden Prime wouldn't happen for at least a year.

A whole year.

That's a whole year of me doing nothing but sitting around with a thumb up my ass as I wait for the fucking beginning stages of the fucking apocalypses.

...God when was the last time I got laid?

 _"I'm detecting a spike in blood pressure throughout your system."_ VEGA's calm voice states, _"Is there something I can do to assist you Alex?"_

"What are the odds of us somehow traveling exactly one year into the future?"

 _"...The chances of that happening are nonexistent."_

I thought so.

"Alex."

I look up to see Tali standing in front of me with her hands behind her back. Man, even though I'm sitting down she barely comes over my head. She seems nervous for some reason. "Something I can help you with Tali?"

She shuffles her feet around nervously before bringing her hands out from behind her. "Here." She says holding out a block shaped device.

I reach forward and grab the device in her hand. "...And this is a?"

"It's a kinetic shield generator." She says wringing her hands a bit. "I noticed that you didn't have any while we were fighting. So I salvaged that from one of the slavers. It was a bit banged up so I fixed it. Consider it a thank you gift for saving me."

I look down at the gift in surprise. "When did you have the time to do this? We just got done taking over the ship."

She tilts her head at my question. "Alex, you've been sitting in that chair not doing anything for six hours."

Wait what!? I look at her in even more shock before taking off my helmet and laughing. "Sorry, guess I'm just a bit tired from recent events."

"...So do you like it?" Tali asks tentatively.

"Huh?" I then remember about her gift. "Oh yeah! It's great Tali!"

"It's not the best shield out there, but it'll give you some protection from quick bursts of gunfire." She laugh a bit. "I don't think you'll really need it though. That armor your wearing may be strange but it sure can take a beating! Just what is it made of?"

"Trust me when I say this Tali, even I don't know the answer to that question." I look down at the armor that I have been through hell with, literally. "But I do know that it's one of a kind."

Getting up with my helmet tucked away safely under one of my arms I start walking. "So, what's next for you Tali?"

"I'm going to continue my pilgrimage." She says stepping in beside me. "I still need to find something worthwhile and take it back to the fleet."

I nodded, having expected that to be her answer. "I'm sure you'll do your home proud."

"What about you? What does Alexander Carter plan to do next?"

Wait a year and tag along with the galaxies first human spectre in a mission to prevent the fall of modern civilization as we know it. But I can't tell her that so I go with.

"I'm going to go to the Citadel, head to the nearest bar, get a bottle of Makers Mark all to myself...and possibly get laid if I'm lucky."

Tali stops in mid stride to stare at me. "Are all humans as weird as you?"

"The galaxy would be fuck if they were."

* * *

The next 6 hours go by relatively slow as we wait for the patrol to arrive. I spent most of that time talking with Tali. We went to the cargo hold and regrouped with the ex N7 James and checked to see how the rest of the former captives were doing.

Luckily the girl from earlier was the only one to be dragged out, so there were no other rape attempts.

Thank god I came to when I did.

I looted an omni tool from one of the slavers as well. It's an older model but it will suffice until I can purchase a newer one while I'm on the Citadel. VEGA was also kind enough to transfer any and all credits from the ship to me. It wasn't much, about 20,000 credits, but at least it's better then nothing.

6 hours pass and I'm standing outside the airlock entrance waiting for the Turian ship to dock. I'm armed with only my energy pistol. I don't plan on anything happening but it's better to be safe then sorry.

The door opens and I'm greeted by the sight of 6 Turians armed with assault rifles.

"Bout time you guys got here." I said folding my arms behind my back. "Now, would you all be kind enough and get us the fuck off of this ship?"

* * *

Thankfully the ride to the Citadel was a quick one. We were taken in and put through the whole questioning and answering once we docked with the huge space station.

I was a bit worried when I had to go through the scanners but VEGA reassured me that there would be no problem. Apparently even though the whole galaxy is afraid of AI's, the Citadel has next to nothing when it comes to defenses against them.

Sure enough I go through the scanner and one Alexander Carter is already in the system.

Thank you VEGA and the Citadel for your pathetic cyber security!

"You take care of yourself Tali." I say to her as she gets ready to board a ship that's due to leave at any moment. "Be extra careful and avoid getting abducted by slavers."

"Ass." Tali says back but I can tell she's smiling under her helmet. Her omni tool lights up and she looks at it. "What's this?"

"My number." I say typing on mine and saving hers. "If you find yourself in over your head, don't hesitate to give me a call. We survived one battle together, granted it was a one sided slaughter, but I already consider us friends."

Tali looked taken back by me statement. "Wow, thanks Alex. That means a lot more to me then you think."

Before she could protest I pull her into a hug that lifts her feet off of the ground. "I miss you already!" I cry dramatically .

Tali tries getting out of my killer hug but fails to do so. We draw a few stares but I don't care. After another minute I put her down and start walking away. "In all seriousness though take care of yourself. See you around Tali!" I say throwing a two finger wave over my shoulder.

Tali shakes her head and waves back. He may be a strange human but she can't deny that he has got a big heart. "You to Alex! I'll buy you that bar the next time we see each other!"

Tali gets on the shuttle as she hears Alex laughing in the distance.

Walking through the crowded streets of the Citadel I shut off my external speakers.

"VEGA, be a pal plot a course to the closest bar."

 _"Rout is set. I have a feeling that I already know why, but may I ask what the purpose of us going there is?"_

I smile underneath my helmet. "I'm going to get smashed for the first time in years!"

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: I've got to say...I'm having a really fun time writing this story. Like, way more fun than I thought it would be and I'm so glad that so many people are liking it. I have never gotten such a positive response from the first chapter of a story before. It warms my heart, sorry if that sounds really sappy but it true. Thank you all.**

 **Now someone has already asked me about pairings. For a bit there I was stuck between female Shepard and Miranda so I brought it up with my dad. I asked him who I should pair Alex with and I quote, either the sexy redhead or the sexy brunette with the Australian accent. He said the redhead, but then I showed him pictures of both...he quickly switched to the brunette.**

 **So I've decided that Alex will be going with Miranda. In fact I already have their meeting planned out. So look forward to the next chapter!**

 **Till then as always, Favorite and Follow if you like this story and feel free to drop a review.**


	3. Getting a job and making a new friend

**Zrocker119: Sorry for the wait. Been having trouble finding time to type up these chapters. You see there hasn't been internet at my house for months and the only times I've been able to type is either at my dads or my friends house. Don't worry though, I bought some notebooks and have been writing chapters down so that I can type them up as soon as I get the chance.**

 **Now I haven't done this before but I'm going to respond to some reviews from the last chapter. Normal I do this through PM's but I just feel like doing it like this. Don't feel insulted if I don't mention yours. These are just ones that caught my attention or made me laugh a bit.**

 **Killer Hamster: The reason this story isn't in the crossover section is because I know that more people would be looking in the regular ME section. What? I want people to see my story!**

 **Jacob: That's why I put that in the end. My dads eyes nearly popped out when he saw what Miranda wears!**

 **Xenospecalist: The year up to the attack of Eden Prime will be a part of the story.**

 **LordGhostStriker: Sorry there will be no cat fights over who gets to be with Alex.**

 **Anyway that all for now. Let's get to the reason why you're all here!**

 **-DOOM EFFECT-**

I wake up to find myself laying on my side. Getting up I stretch and let out a yawn. Taking a look around I realize that I'm in my bedroom back in the states.

"Man...that was one hell of a dream," Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I out of bed and head into the bathroom for a refreshing shower.

As the warm water washed down my back I couldn't help but feel a little out of it.

'That felt way too real,' Shaking my head I shut off the water, wrap a towel around my waist and step out.

I go up to the mirror to get a look at myself only to see that it's all fogged up. I go to wipe it off when a large, red hand shatters through the mirror, grips my arm and pulls me through.

My screams of pain and terror echo throughout my apartment as demons rip me limb from limb and consume whatever remains.

* * *

I fall off of my place on a couch as I shout in terror. My eyes dart all around the room in search of anything that could pose a threat. It takes several moments for me to calm down and realize that I'm in the living room of some cheap motel on the Citadel that I rented for the night.

'That's it. No more drinking before bed.'

I stayed true to my word from the other day and hit up a bar. My armor drew me lots of stares but after knocking out one drunkard that was stupid enough to say something with a single punch, people kept their distance.

I didn't really get drunk either. I drank enough to put even the most dedicated drinkers in the ER, but I didn't even get tipsy. I asked VEGA and he said that it has something to do with the argent energy running through my body.

Stupid hell energy and preventing me from getting drunk.

I stand and take a few steps but clutch my chest in pain. I rush to the bathroom and lean over the toilet, making it just in time as a mixture of blood and bile leave my throat, painfully.

When I eventually stop I fall with my back to the floor. I look at my chest to see it sporting multiple bruises. The large one in the center being the most noticeable.

Well that explains the pain.

By the way I was able to remove the Praetor Armor before I fell asleep. Even with VEGA's help it was still a bitch to do.

Stupid visions and them appearing while I was subconsciously putting on the armor.

Anyway while I was fighting the forces of hell itself, I didn't come out unscathed. The Praetor suit may be indestructible, for all intensive purposes, but it isn't able to stop all of the force of a punch from a hell knight, a charge from a pinky, or a kick from a baron.

The only thing that kept me going was the adrenaline and the fear of death. I don't really know why I didn't start feeling any of my injuries before now. Maybe The Creator had a hand in it.

Pushing those thoughts aside I wait until the pain reaches a tolerable level before trying to move again.

I get back up once again and proceed to go through the process of putting on my armor.

What? I literally have nothing else to wear! I don't even have any underwear for crying out loud.

Also, putting the armor back on is much easier then taking it off.

I stare into the visor of the helmet for a moment or so before putting it on as well.

 _"Good morning Alex."_ VEGA greets once the helmet is sealed in place.

"Morning to you as well VEGA." Walking is a bit painful but I do my best to block it out. Leaving my room I head to the lobby. I greet the Salarian behind the counter who glaces at me for a second before going back to his omni tool.

'Prick,' I think as I leave the motel.

Today I have an objective. Well two of them to be more precise.

First and for most is for me to find a job. I've got a year before the shit I'm here for actually goes down and my 20,000 credits won't last that long. Being a mercenary comes to mind but the though of accepting money for killing somebody doesn't sit well with me.

What? I have some morals damn it!

Second is to get ammo for my weapons. It shouldn't be too difficult. The only ones that will be though are the plasma rifle, gauss cannon and the BFG. Until I find a way to replicate the ammunition for those, they will be used sparingly.

The ammo seems like it will be the easiest to do first so I have VEGA plot a route to the closest weapons shop with decent prices.

I make my way through the crowd, completely unaware that a pair of eyes are watching me from afar.

* * *

"Well this place seems..."

 _"In dangerous need of a remodeling."_

"I was going to say nice but that works to." I say as I look the weapons shop entrance. The place seems a little run down but as long as it can get what I needed done, then I'll have no problems buying from here.

"Harg's arms." I read walking through the open doors.

The inside of the store wasn't nearly as bad as it was outside. Weapons of all sorts lined the walls, ranging from sidearm to heavy weapons.

Going up to the counter I couldn't help but chuckle when I see a bell sitting there. So the owner has an appreciation for the classics.

I ring it and a few moments later a Krogan came walking in from the back room. He has a dark green head plate and a scar running down his face.

The scarred Krogan seems to size me up for a moment and says, "What the fuck did your parents feed you?"

...

Oh I already like this guy.

"What can I say?" I say with a shrug, "I ate my vegetables."

He grunts in response. "Well welcome to Harg's Arms. I'm Harg, the owner of this fine establishment."

"Alexander Cater." I pull out a shotgun shell, a 50 caliber bullet, a rocket and micro rocket. Setting them on the counter I say, "I was wondering if you could replicate these."

Picking them up he examines each one. "These are pretty outdated, as in ammunition like this hasn't been used by any race since eezo was discovered."

"They may be outdated but they're still effective." I say crossing my arms. "They ware down shields fast and can punch through armor. Besides I've grown attached to my guns and I don't plan on getting rid of them." Good luck taking good old boomstick away from me.

Harg grunts in agreement, "Can't argue with that. Good to see that someone else appreciates the classics." He goes back to looking at the rounds. "I can make more but the materials will be expensive."

Figures.

"I'm in a bit of a money crisis at the moment but it's a problem I plan on solving later today."

Harg widens one eye at my statement. I assume that's the Krogan version of raising a brow. It was only lasted a second before his eyes narrowed, "Sorry but I only deal with those that can pay now and not later."

I stop myself from letting out a groan. "Can't blame you for that." Looking around the shop an idea comes to mind.

"I can't help but notice that this place is a bit run down and that you seem to be the only one that works here."

Harg lets out a low growl. "You got anything else to say besides insulting my shop."

"I meant no disrespect," I say holding up my hands in a calming manor. "Just making an observation. I was thinking that maybe we could help each other out a little."

Harg crosses his arms. "Spit it out already human, before my patience runs out."

"Let me work here. That way you know that I'll be able to pay you and I get a job in the process. We both walk away happy in the end."

The old Krogan looks around the shop, "As much as I'd hate to admit it I do need some help around here. I'm not as young as I use to be." He grunts and turns back to me. "You got a week to impress me. Fail to do that and your out of here."

I pull off my helmet and give him a grin. "I'll try to not disappoint you. When do I start."

"Right now."

* * *

I think it's safe to say that I managed to impress Harg. How do I know? Well it has been 2 weeks and I'm still working there. It's a pretty decent gig. The pay is good and I get a discount.

Harg's a pretty good guy once I finally managed to get him to warm up to me. He's fun to bullshit with.

By the way, He wasn't joking about being old. I found out a the other day that he'll be turning 750 in a few months. Don't let his age fool you though. Piss him off and he'll kick you ass into the next century and be waiting there for you so he can finish the job.

Still doesn't prevent me from cracking jokes at him.

Although I haven't been making as many of those I usually would.

Ever since my first night being in this universe, my dreams have been plagued by nightmares about my time in DOOM. I've tried to keep them from affecting my daily routine but it hasn't been easy. Even while in another universe, it seems that hell won't let me be.

Even someone as awesome as Doomguy needed a good nights sleep at some point.

* * *

I look at Harg with a surprised look. A moment later I stick my pinky in my ear and clean it out a bit. "Can you repeat that one more time please? I don't think I heard you correctly."

I receive a low growl in response. "I said that my wife, for whatever reason, wants you to come over for dinner when we get off work today."

Ah, so my ears didn't deceive me.

"I'd be happy to come over for dinner," I say giving a small smile. After 2 weeks of living off of the galaxies equivalent of fast food, a home cooked meal will be a very welcomed change.

"Good," Harg nods in approval. "Otherwise I'd kick your ass for refusing my wife's hospitality."

"As if an old dinosaur like you could kick my ass."

"...You've got a quad on you, I'll give you that much." Harg says shaking his head while grinning.

* * *

I got out of work a few hours later and headed to my apartment. It's nothing too fancy. Just one of those generic looking places that you would expect to find on the Citadel. It has a living room, kitchen, one bedroom and a bathroom.

Stepping out of the shower I go to the mirror and start to shave off the my scruffy looking beard. Once I get it back down to my usual faded goatee I splash my face with water and look my work over.

I notice something in my reflection and stop. Leaning in for a closer look to make sure that my eyes aren't playing tricks on me, I see that they aren't.

My eyes have changed. The edges of my irises now have a red glow to them.

'Is this a side effect of the argent energy?' I shake my head.

'I'll ask VEGA about it later. I don't have time for this right now.' Looking at the clock I see that I have an hour until I have to be at Harg's.

Going to my closet I grab a decent set of clothes and throw them on. Again it's nothing too fancy. Just a pair of jeans, a grey shirt and a leather jacket.

I got these, and most of my clothes, from a store that sold clothes that are based off of the early 21st century.

It would be a cold day in hell before I start wearing those ugly clothes that everyone else seems to always be wearing.

I finish putting on my boots and get ready to walk out the door but stop and smack myself in the face. Running back to my room I grab an advanced looking ear piece and put it on.

 _"I was about to message your omni tool and remind you about the ear piece."_

'Sorry VEGA. It almost slipped my mind.'

You see it isn't a normal ear piece. It's one that VEGA designed for my use. It allows me to communicate with him through thought.

Don't ask me how it works cause I don't have a fucking clue. I graduated with a degree in animation, not engineering.

Now completely ready I walk out the door and head to the nearest transit terminal.

* * *

Turns out that Harg doesn't live all that far away from me.

I rang the bell and waited outside of his home, a bottle a champagne in hand. I may not get out much, but I even I know it's rude to show show up for dinner empty handed.

The door slides open and I see something that I didn't expect to see.

A young Asari child stood in the doorway. Her skin is a pale blue and her big brown eyes are looking up at me, filled with curiosity and amazement. I don't know how fast Asari mature, but I would have to guess that she's no more than 6 years old.

"Hi, I'm Taranysa!" She says excitedly.

It takes all of my will power to keep myself from gushing over how cute this girl is. "Hello to you as well Taranysa! My name is Alexander but please call me Alex."

"Taranysa!" Harg comes walking in from one of the other rooms, dressed in those robe looking clothes that you would see Krogan wearing in the games. His a dark blue. "Ah Alex glad to see that your here. I see that you've already met my daughter." He says rubbing Taranysa's head affectionately.

"Yes I have and I have to say that she is quite the cutie."

The girl in questions finds the floor to be very interesting and her cheeks turn several shades darker at my comment.

"As you humans say, she's my little princess." Harg puts a hand on her shoulder and jerks his head towards the way he came from. "Come on I'll introduce you to my wife and son."

...Did he just say son?

Following behind him we enter what I can guess in the dining room. The table is all set with food that I have never seen before but all of it looks delicious.

Standing by table though are 2 people.

The first is a beautiful Asari with blue skin and grey markings that resemble human eyebrows.

Hiding behind her though, much to my surprise, is a Krogan child.

"Alex, this is my wife Bamela and my son Ralph." Harg says introducing the rest of his family.

"Hello Alex," Bamela says bowing her head slightly, "My husband has told me many things about you."

"All good I hope!" I said as I hold out the bottle of champagne. "I don't know much about Asari or Krogan culture, but for humans it's normal for the guests to bring a gift of some kind. Again I didn't know what would be best so I just went with alcohol."

Bamela smiles and accepts the bottle. "I'm sure we'll be enjoying it later." She looks down at the Krogan behind her and says, "Aren't you going to say hello to are guest Ralph?"

"H-h-hello." Ralph says, slightly peeking out from behind his mother.

Wow...never thought that I would see a shy Krogan before.

A few minutes later and the 5 of us were all seated in the dining room eating.

Again, I don't know what it is. Probably some kind of Asari dish, but man is it fucking delicious!

"So Alex," Bamela says breaking the silence. "Would you mind telling us about yourself. I doubt what Harg has told me is the extent of it."

'Alright Alex, it's time to put your bullshitting skills to the test.'

"There isn't really much to be told," I began. "I grew up on Earth. My mother died giving birth to me so my father had to raise me and my brother on his own. I believe he did a good job." None of that was made up.

"Once I turned 20 I decided to leave Earth and see what else the galaxy had to offer. I traveled around a lot, visiting many different planets, was even a member of a mercenary group at one point. 4 years after I left, I received a message from my older brother. Dad passed away and his funeral was to be held a week later." Silent tears gather in the corners of my eyes. The only lie in that part is about me leaving Earth.

Bamela looked at me with a small amount of pity. "You don't need to say anything more."

"It's fine," I blink my tears away. "I came to terms with my fathers death long ago. My only regret is that I wasn't there when he died. I stayed on Earth with my brother and his family up till two years ago. I was watching over the house while my brother took his wife and kids on a vacation to the Citadel. They were only supposed to be gone for a week. Two weeks later I get a call from C-sec. A mugging gone wrong they said. The one responsible was caught and dealt with. After their funerals I left Earth for good. Haven't gone back since."

The strange thing is, none of what I said felt like a lie. As I spoke images and memories of my tale filled my mind. I may not be a genius but even I could figure out that those memories were The Creator's doing.

I look around the table and see only saddened expressions...except from Harg that is. He just looks me in the eyes and nods.

"Sorry for bringing down the mood." I said rubbing my head sheepishly, "Enough of this gloom though! Tell me about yourselves."

* * *

A few hours and a bottle of champagne later, Harg and I are the only ones still awake.

"You have a good family Harg." I say as the two of us sit in the living room, each of us holding a drink.

"More than an old Krogan like me deserves." He finishes his drink and leaves for the kitchen. He comes back a few minutes later with a bottle in his hand. "You said that the one that killed your brother and his family was dealt with."

"Had a friend of mine hack into C-sec security and bust the guy out. Had him brought to me." I nearly crush my cup as the false memories came to me. "He begged for mercy as I ripped him to fucking pieces." I empty the rest of my drink down my throat as I finish.

Harg grunts and opens the bottle. He grabs my glass, refills it and hands it back.

I smell it and immediately gag, "The fuck is this?"

"Ryncol," He grins and takes a swig strait from the bottle.

I look down at my glass. After a moment I shrug and chug the whole thing. It burned like fire as it goes down my throat, but damn does that burn feel good.

I cough and hold out my glass. "More please."

"HA! I knew there was a reason to why I like you!" Harg slaps me on the back.

I chuckle a bit as well. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Shoot."

"How is it that Ralph is here?" Harg stops what he's doing and looks at me. "I don't know much about Krogan, but I do know that they don't let children leave the home world."

He looks at me for a long time and sighs. "He's actually my third son. My first two were still born, so you can only imagine what it was like when Ralph came out still breathing. I looked around the female camp and saw other fathers with there sons and saw them practicing for battle. Most saw that as bonding, but I saw it as fathers preparing their sons for death. I didn't want my one and only son to live the same life I had up to that point."

He takes a long drink before continuing.

"So with the help of my closest, and oldest, friend I smuggled Ralph off of Tuchanka and brought him to the Citadel. He was but a hatchling at the time so he doesn't remember his mother. 12 years latter and hear I am."

I nod and pour myself another drink. Holding up my glass I say, "To our lives and loved once."

"To our lives and loved ones." We clank our drinks together and down them.

I stayed on their couch that night, and surprisingly, no nightmares plagued my dreams.

* * *

The sound of heels could be heard clacking down the halls as Miranda Lawson walked through the corridors of the Cerberus HQ. The brunette beauty had been summoned by The Illusive Man himself, most likely for a new assignment that only she could complete.

She is his second in command for a reason.

The doors open and Miranda sees TIM sitting in his chair, smoking a cigarette and watching the nearby gas giant through the window.

"Miss Lawson, there has been a new development." He says holding out a data pad.

Grabbing it she looks over that data.

TIM takes a drag of his cigarette and continues. "Up until a few weeks ago, Mister Carter and his deceased family didn't exist. They just appeared in the system. Everything from birth certificates to family history."

Looking through the data that is before her, Miranda is somewhat impressed with what she sees. "He took over an entire Batarrian slave ship with a single Quarrian and a few relic weapons." She highlights two pictures of him and they enlarges them.

One is of him in his armor. The design is completely alien to her but it seems to be highly advanced. The other is of him outside of the suit. He is quite tall and has a large muscular frame that puts most men to shame. What catches her attention though are his eyes.

"Those are the eyes of someone that has been through hell." She says zooming in on his face.

"I want you to get close to him." TIM says putting out his cigarette. "Find out what it is he's hiding and if possible, recruit him."

"That might prove to be difficult." Miranda says as she plays the video of him getting into a bar fight after somebody comments on his strange armor.

"Is there going to be a problem Miss Lawson?"

"...None at all."

 **-END**

 **Zrocker119: Not sure when the next chapter will be out. I'll try and get it done soon but I make no promises on a date. Also I'm looking for beta readers...just throwing that offer out there.**

 **Fav/Follow and review please!**


	4. I've got a date with a spy!

**Zrocker119: What's this? A new chapter so soon. I'm over at my dads for the next few days so I'm going to get in as much typing as I can. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

"Thank you for your business!" I say as another customer exits the shop.

It had been 2 months since my first time having dinner with Harg's family and things have been rather good for me.

Taranysa and Ralph have grown very attached to me. They always call me Uncle Alex whenever they see me. Those two remind me of my niece and nephew back in my own universe so much that it hurts me a little inside, but I love them just the same.

Bamela is a very kind woman as well. I know that Asari are mono-gendered but it's much easier to just call them women. Anyway she has been nothing but kind to me, almost like my sister in law.

Now that I think about it, Harg is strikingly similar to my older brother. Personality wise that is.

...

...

...

Holy shit I found the ME versions of my brother and his family!

Huh, I'm not really sure of how I'm supposed to coup with this information.

Shaking my head I move to the back of the shop and start going over the stocks. Harg took the day off to spend some time with Bamela and the kids so I'm working the shop alone for the day.

The door opens a little while later and I shout, "I'll be with you in a minute!"

"Take you're time. I'm in no hurry." Replies a feminine voice with an australian accent.

I stop dead as the voice registers in my brain. I would recognize that voice anywhere. I had my Shepard romance her multiple times throughout my playthroughs after all. Shutting off my omni tool I head to the front counter and confirm my suspicions.

Waiting patiently at the counter is Miranda Fucking Lawson.

Let's get one thing straight right fucking now...the games don't do her beauty any justice.

Dark brown hair cascades down her neck, resting comfortably a few inches past her shoulders. Piercing blue/grey eyes. Flawless skin and full lips that look oh so inviting. And lets not forget the skintight body suit does absolutely nothing to hide her perfectly proportioned breasts and ass.

Am I getting a hard on?...Why yes, yes I am.

"Welcome to Harg's arms," I say acting like I don't already know who she is. "Where you can find all of your weapon needs for the best price."

All I receive is a cold stare. "Do you always have to say that?"

"If I want to get paid, then, yes I do." I'm joking of course but that's besides the point. "What is it that I can help you with."

There are two ways that I see this meeting going. I can either expose who she is now and see if I can get a meeting with TIM, or go along with what she has planned and see it plays out.

I'll play her games for now, let her think she's in control.

'VEGA, this woman is Miranda Lawson, the top operative of the terrorist cell known as Cerberus. Try and hack into her omni tool. See what information you can get. But be quiet about it. I don't want them to know about you just yet.'

 _"Very well. I'll flood her network with junk data should I be detected."_

I watch as Miranda reaches behind her, pulls out a pistol and sets it on the counter. I recognize it as a Judgement from the first game.

Picking it up I look it over and assess it. "Judging by the excellent condition this is in I can assume that you aren't her for a cleaning. Upgrade?"

"You would be correct," She flashes me a smile with one hand on her hip. God she looks so sexy when she does that pose. "While my current weapon is reliable-"

"It just doesn't quite punch through shields and armor." I say finishing her train of thought.

"Exactly."

"I got just the thing." Turning my back to the Cerberus operative I search though the weapon racks. 'How's the hack going VEGA?'

 _"Miss Lawson's firewalls were surprisingly difficult to breach."_

'Were?'

 _"It took me a full 6.0253 second to crack them."_

'Getting a bit slow are we?'

I look around for a moment longer and come back to the counter with a new pistol.

"This is the Harpy. It can fire 21 shots before over heating and it packs nearly twice as much punch as the Judgement." I spin it around so the barrel is facing me and offer it to her. She takes it and gives it a look over. "And it's lighter."

"Do you have a range?"

I jerk a thumb over my shoulder. "Out back."

* * *

 **POV Miranda**

Keeping a close eye on him, I follow Alexander out back to the firing range.

"I never got your name."

"Alexander Carter, but please call me Alex." He says not breaking stride, "May I know yours?"

"Kathrin Merrett." I lie giving him a cover name.

"You a mercenary Ms. Merrett?" He asks as he brings up the targets. "How far?"

"25 meters. And no, I work private security." I hear him chuckle under his breath. "Is there something funny about what I said?"

Alex shook his head, "I just get the feeling that your employers spend more time watching you, then you do them." He pauses for a moment then says. "You are a very beautiful woman after all and your choice of uniform probably doesn't help."

I was wondering how long it would take before he makes a move on me. "Is there something wrong with the way I dress?"

"Most would say that you dress slutty." Wouldn't be the first time I've been called that. "But I see a woman that knows how to use what she has got to her advantage."

That...that's actually the first time I've heard that. "Care to explain that statement."

"For one you've got a killer body."

"A very astute observation."

"So I can only imagine how distracting it must be for the ones firing at you. God knows that I'd be staring." He hands me the ammo block and I slide it in. "Fire when you're ready."

Bringing the gun to bear I line up my sights and squeeze the trigger. The grain size rounds, traveling at the fraction of the speed of light, fire down range and hit the target. I fire until the gun over heats and am forced to vent. All of the rounds hit center mass with a tight grouping.

Alexander whistles, "Color me impressed. How's it feel?"

"The weight will take some getting use to but I think that I'll take it." The weapon folds up and I clip it to my side. "How much?"

"That's the newest model, so that'll be 900 credits." He smirks and pulls out a strange looking pistol that was hanging on his side. "But how about a little wager?"

I cross my arms, pushing up my breasts a bit. He does't even try to hide his gaze. "I'm listening."

"We each get one shot. Whoever gets closer to the center of the head wins."

"What are the stakes?"

"If you win I'll sell you the weapon for half price. Should I win you pay full price...and I get to take you out for dinner when I get off work."

I almost chuckle at his wager. He's making this all too easy. "I'll take that bet."

After resetting the target, he bows with his arms gesturing for me to step forward. "Ladies first."

Before he could even straighten up I fire another bullet and hit the target right in the center of the head. "Did I forget to mention that I can take the head off of a mech at 100 meter? Must have slipped my mind."

"Well played well played, but it's my turn." I watch closely as he aims down range. Flicking his thumb the bottom of his weapon unfolds and I hear a thrumming sound. Like something is being charged.

Pew!

A blue bolt fires from his weapon and the entire head of the target explodes, sending bits and pieces everywhere.

'What the hell was that!?' That was no mass accelerator. It almost seemed like an energy weapon.

Hiding my shock I fix him with a glare. "You swindled me."

"I never said anything about not blowing the head off. I get off in 2 hours," He smirks, spinning his gun like a cowboy of old. "By the way the gun is still half off. I just wanted a reason to ask you out."

"Most guys just flat out ask." I say sending him the credits for the gun.

He flashes me a confident smirk, "A gorgeous woman like you've never would've said yes to a man like me. Had to make sure that you'd have to say yes. Did a pretty good job if I do say so myself."

'He's certainly not lacking confidence.' "I just might have said yes. Regardless, I'll send you my address and you can come get me from there."

"Dress in something nice. I've got something fancy in mind."

* * *

 **POV Alex**

"So your telling me..."

"Yes."

"That you closed the shop an hour early..."

"Yep."

"Just so you can go on a date."

"Correct." I say to Harg over my omni tool as I get ready for my date with Miranda Lawson. Sorry, Kathrin Merrett.

I could feel Harg's burning gaze, "I should fire you."

Smirking I send him a picture of Miranda that I took when she wasn't looking. What? Don't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same thing.

"Damn." Harg responds.

"I know right." Looking myself over I can't help but admit that I look pretty damn fly. I'm wearing a white dress shirt, black slacks and dress shoes. "Listen I've got to get going now."

"Let me know how it goes."

I cut the connection and check the time. 'VEGA, are the reservations ready?'

 _"Yes. A table for 2 under the name Carter at the Sunset Steak House. You'd normal have to make reservations a month in advanced."_

'Good thing I've got you then. Also what were you able to pull from Miranda's omni tool?'

 _"Much of the data was heavily encrypted. Should any attempted to crack it been made, even I would've been detected. From the little I managed to collect though, it would seem that Ms. Lawson has been watching you for the last several weeks."_

'Given how paranoid Cerberus is I'm surprised that you got that much.'

Heading out the door I go to the transit station. Punching in Miranda's address I find out that it's only 10 minutes away. Coincidence? I think not.

A few minutes later I find myself standing outside of her apartment.

'How do I look VEGA?' Now that I think about it, I probably should've asked that question before I left.

 _"You look quite sharp sir."_

'Thank you VEGA.'

Ringing the bell(do they still have those in the future?) I wait for about 30 seconds before the door opens and my mind almost shuts down.

Miranda stood before me in an ankle length, black, single strap dress that has a slit on going down her left leg. In her ears are what I can only assume to be diamonds earrings. Her hair is virtually unchanged although I do detect the sent of strawberries. She's still wearing heels though.

'Damn.'

"Is this too fancy for what you have in mind?" She asks confidently and spins around, showing that the back of her dress in left open. I also notice that she isn't wearing a bra. And yet her breasts have hardly any sag to them.

God damn it Bioware! Why do you have to make your women so damn sexy!?

"On the contrary, I'm starting to think that I'm the one that's under dressed." I take her hand and kiss it. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself." She loops her arm through mine and we're on are way.

* * *

Stepping out of the skycar I move the the passenger seat and hold out my hand.

"How gentlemanly," Miranda says offering a slight smile.

Walking arm in arm to the restaurant, drawing many stares as we do. A guy of my size and a woman with Miranda's looks tend to do that.

Sure this whole thing is all for show on Miranda's end, but I'm going to make an impression. Hopefully we'll both be walking away in one piece tonight.

"Table for 2," I address the Turian waiter. "Under the name Carter."

He scans the list for a second and nods, "I have you right here. This way please."

He takes us to are table and I pull out Miranda's seat. "Why thank you."

"My father raised no caveman." It goes unnoticed by everyone else but I see the slight twitch in her eye at the mention of my father. Oh right, she has daddy issues.

Taking a seat for myself it doesn't take us too long to order food and drinks. I order a steak with steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes. Miranda the same but replaces the vegetables with mushrooms and asparagus. Once the Waiter returns with our orders I decide to start the conversation.

"So, Ms. Merrett-"

"Please, call me Kathrin. You have me call you Alex so it's only fair that I allow you the same courtesy."

I smile at her, "Okay then, Kathrin, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself."

"What is it that you want to know?" She asks taking a sip of her wine.

"I eager to know how a woman like yourself gets to work private security."

"Ah, I'm afraid that's a long story."

"The nights still young and we've got plenty of time." I cut into my medium rare steak and take a bite. My mouth is assaulted by an intense flavor as the juices hit my taste buds. It's grilled to perfection.

"I guess it all started with my father." Miranda began, "For starters he never wanted a daughter, he wanted a successor to his company. So that's what he tried grooming me into. Once I was old and brave enough I ran away and joined the Alliance. Stayed there for a few years before I realized that I wasn't cut out for the military so I started working as private security."

'Huh,' I think. 'That's not to far from the truth.' Guess it's easier to tell big lies with little bits and pieces of the truth mixed onto it.

"I was never in the military myself, but I spent some time as a freelancing mercenary. After the dozen jobs though, the notion of accepting money for killing somebody left a bad taste in my mouth. So I quit, took all of the money I had saved up and came to the Citadel." I chuckle, "You know what I do now."

"Do you enjoy your new job."

"Very. My boss wasn't in today but he's a good man. Well, a good Krogan. What about you."

"When my employers aren't trying to cop a feel, then yes. I find my job quite enjoyable."

I smirk and say, "Can you blame them though? You do have a amazing ass."

"My Alex, that's quite bold of you."

I just smile and take another drink. 'You haven't seen nothing yet.'

* * *

Dinner went quite well. Even though I knew Miranda was only paying me the whole time, I couldn't help but enjoy her company. She's a beautiful woman after all. Have I made that clear enough yet?

Yes. Alright then moving on.

It wasn't much later that the 2 of us were done eating and in my apartment.

"Do you always bring women back to your place on the first date?" Miranda asks, looking around from her spot on the sofa.

I come walking in from the kitchen with 2 shot glasses and pint of whisky. "Only the ones that I like." I pour us each a shot and hand her one. She goes to take a drink but I stop her.

"Hold on now. If you want to drink, then you've got to play the game."

She raises a delicate eyebrow, "Oh? And what game would that be?"

"The rules are very simple. We each make a statement about the other and if your right they take a drink. If you're wrong though, you take the drink."

"Is that all?"

"Also the statements can't be obvious. For example. You have brown hair." I say gesturing to her chocolate locks. "That's very obvious and an unfair statement, as I know you'll have to drink."

"I think I understand it."

I smile, "Great then I'll go first." I take a moment to study her. "You seem to be the loner type. I'd say that's because you didn't have many friends growing up."

She raise a brow but takes a drink. "Okay then my turn." Miranda looks me over and says, "You're a player that never stays with a woman for very long."

I smirk and only drink half of my shot. "You're half write. I never stayed with a woman for long because they find me to be childish at times."

"Oh, how so."

"Sorry but you'll have to guess to get that answer." I think about my next statement. "Your father was hard on you growing up and that's why you resent him."

She frowns at this, "That's not fair. You already know the answer to that."

I hold up my hands in surrender. "Right, dick move! I'll take the drink for this one." I finish my shot and fill it back up. "Let me try again. You never spent time with your mother. Either because she died or was never around."

She slowly raises her glass and takes a drink. I take one as well.

"Look at that! Something we both have in common!"

"I thinks it's my turn." She says looking slightly irritated. "You never planned on being a gun for hire. It was a spur of the moment decision."

I take another shot. "Correct. I actually went to school with the idea of being an animator." She fails to stifle a laugh. She should laugh more often. It's a nice look. "What? I'll have you know that I'm very good at it."

"I'm sorry." Wow that actually sounded genuine, "It's just that it's hard to picture you doing something as mundane at that."

"Har har laugh it up." I say jokingly.

For some reason we both take a drink. It was my turn again.

'I think It's about time that we stop playing games and end this charade.' It's a pity though, I was enjoying this date.

"You have a sibling." Her eyes widen slightly at that. Probable because that she has made no notion of having one during any of our conversations. "Not only that, but a younger one. A sister if I had to guess."

I take a drink as her hand moves closer to her right thigh, where I'm sure the pistol I sold her earlier lies. "You were never in the Alliance, but joined a certain human supremacy group."

Her hand edges closer, almost on top of it.

I decide to put the final nail in the coffin. "How about that your name isn't Kathrin Merrett." Finishing my shot I set down the glass and rest my hands on my lap.

"What seems to be the problem Ms. Lawson?" I ask making her hesitate, "Never been the one that has been caught off guard?"

With lightning speeds she draws her weapon and aims at me, but because I was expecting it I'm able to bat the gun out of her hand, sending it across the room.

"Pointing the very gun that I sold you at me. That's not very nice."

I roll over the couch to avoid a kick to the chin. Hitting the floor I jump up and lash out with a jab.

Miranda dodges the punch, jumps and wraps her legs around my outstretched arm. Not expecting the sudden extra weight, it throws me off balance and she capitalizes on it. Twisting her body she takes me to the ground with my arm caught in an arm-bar hold.

She tries breaking my arm, but what she doesn't count on is for me to get to my feet and lift her like she's weightless. I wrench her arms loose and throw her with enough force to send her crashing into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

She doesn't stay down though and is back on her feet a moment later. I throw a left-right combo but she just dances around by punches effortlessly, drops down and sweeps my feet out from under me.

Gravity takes hold and I hit the floor hard. Damn she's faster than I expected. I get back up to find the barrel of a gun in my face. Acting fast I grab it and force it upwards. Before she can get a shot off I squeeze down as hard as I can, crushing the weapon.

Letting the now useless weapon fall to the floor, I grab her arm, spin her around and wrap an arm around her neck. I start to apply pressure, "Calm down! Don't make me hurt you more then I already have!" 'I really don't want to!' I mentally add.

I silently curse as she starts to glow purple and I'm grown into the wall by her biotics.

'How the fuck did I forget she can do that?!' I don't have time to dwell on it as I'm lifted into the air and am promptly slammed face first into the the ground face.

I'm then suspended into the air and held there. Miranda approaches me, but I notice that she's sweating quite a bit.

* * *

 **POV Miranda**

"How the hell do you know about me!?" This simple recon/seduction mission had gone south really fast. "I gave no notion of who I am!"

Even though I have him suspended in mid air, which in of itself is much more taxing then it should be, he still has that cocky smirk.

"I know much more then that Miranda." His smirk turns into a soft smile, "When was the last time you check in on Oriana?"

I glare and slam him into the wall, "What do you know about her!?"

Despite what I've done he keeps on smiling, "You're protective of your genetic twin, your family. You're not nearly as heartless as you want people to think." His eyes start to glow a soft shade of red and it suddenly becomes even harder to keep him held in place. "Put me down and let's talk this through. I never wanted to fight in the first place. You're the one that jumped the gun...literally."

"We have nothing to talk about," I say coldly and throw him into the opposite wall. Falling to the floor he coughs up blood and gets back to his feet. I flare my biotics and send another throw at him, but unlike last time he stays standing.

He raises his head and I see that his eyes have turned completely red. Letting out a primal roar he charges. I barely have time to put up a barrier when he crashes into me. My barrier does next to nothing as he tackles me through the couch and onto the floor.

God I'm sure a charging Krogan in a bloodrage would've hurt less. I'm fairly certain that one of my ribs is either bruised or broken and that it's harder to breath.

I try pushing him off of me but the feeling of a gun being pressed to my chin stops me dead. Knowing that I'm done for if I make any sudden moves I have no choice but to wait and see what he has planed.

After several seconds of nothing happening, I look to see his eyes staring back into mine, them having gone back to being there normal color.

"Please stop." He pleads, "I don't want us to be enemies Miranda." As if to emphasize this statement, he tosses his weapon aside. He rolls onto his back in the area next to me.

I immediately move on top of him, a hand brimming with biotics near his throat.

"Threat of death aside...I don't really mind this position all that much." He says smirking slightly at are current positions. Him beneath me and me straddling him.

What an ass.

"Call him." He suddenly says after a few moments of silence. "And before you asks, I mean Jack Harper. Wait, he goes by The Illusive Man now."

My eyes widen at his new display of knowing something impossible. "How-"

"Trust me when I say that you won't believe me." He sighs, "Just know that we both want the same thing."

"And that is?"

"The safety of humanity."

"Why should I trust you?" I ask with narrowed eyes.

"I could give you some bullshit reason, but I won't. You have no fucking reason to trust me."

There's a pregnant pause and I slowly get up. "We'll have to go to my place to talk him."

"We both know that's a lie," He says getting to his feet. "But fuck it." He disappears into his room.

Alex returns moments later, his date clothes replaced by his foreign armor. "I'm ready when you are...by the way you owe me an reparations for apartment damages."

I can tell that this is just the beginning of a very long headache.

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: What? Oh you thought that Alex would play along longer than that. F*** that! He's got plans and he doesn't want Cerberus getting in the way. So he's gonna talk to the head of the snake, or dog in this case.**

 **As to what was going on during the fight with his eyes changing color, that was him just going momentarily berserk. In that state he can rip a Baron apart with his bare hands, so him charging through a biotic throw would be no problem. Now as we've seen Alex isn't completely immune to biotics, but the argent energy in his body gives him a deadly advantage.**

 **I'm already working on the next chapter so be ready for that.**

 **Till then as always Fav/Follow and review!**


	5. When in doubt, bullshit your way out!

**Zrocker119: Wow, you guys liked the fight between Alex and Miranda more than I thought you would. Alright, this chapter is a bit shorter, like 300 words shorter than I wanted, but it ends much different than you think. Also, I'm glad some enjoyed the POV change. It'll happen more often but only when I think it will be best. Besides, it's fun writing what people think about Alex.**

 **One last thing. Be prepared for a lot of bullshit to be said.**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

I could some up this night in 4 words.

Worst. First. Date. Ever.

The ride to Miranda's current place of residence was rather awkward. She drove the skycar while I rode shotgun in the passenger seat. The atmosphere was so think with tension that it could be cut with a butter knife.

Even though her places is short, it felt like an eternity.

"I tackled you pretty hard back there." I speak breaking the silence, "I apologize, but you didn't give me much of a choice."

I didn't come out unscathed either. I can feel that more than a few of my ribs are cracked. Had I been in my armor then I'd probably be in better shape. But for not being in it, I did much better than I thought I would.

Miranda fights smart. Throughout are little confrontation she tried to disable me at every possible moment. Hell, she tried breaking my arm and throwing me around the room with biotics.

I'm not use to fighting smart opponents.

I'm use to fighting demons that just run in recklessly with no strategy in mind.

...

Wow, I've got more in common with demons than I'm comfortable with.

"We'll talk when we get there. Until then stay quiet." Okay maybe she's more than a bit salty about the whole ordeal.

"Right."

* * *

Thankfully the ride was over a few minutes later. Getting out of the vehicle the 2 of us head inside.

I notice that she has a slight limp but choose not to call her out on it. Her prides been damaged enough as it is. The last thing she needs is me offering her help.

Even while injured though Miranda projects the image of nothing but raw confidence. I can understand why TIM made her Cerberus's second in command.

Once we enter her apartment she leads me into the dinning room and activates her omni tool. A second later the table sinks into the floor.

"The Illusive Man is ready to speak with you." She motions for me to step onto the table.

Knowing what would happen I step onto it and a bunch of lasers scan my body. Mere seconds later I find my self facing the head of Cerberus himself.

As expected, he's sitting in his chair with a cigarette in hand.

"Mr. Carter, you've proven to be a bigger player than I originally gave you credit for."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Mr. Harper." I say crossing my arms over my chest. "It's been a long day for me, so I would prefer it if we just got straight to the point."

His synthetic eyes bore into the visor of my helmet. "Very well then. I'll be brief. Until a few months ago you didn't exist. You show up out of nowhere, hack into the Citadel ,secure a back ground and credentials, then you manage to subdue my best operative all while revealing information that you shouldn't be able to possibly know. You're an unknown Cater. I don't like dealing with unknowns."

"That just means your smart." I bring up my omni tool and send a package to Miranda. It's the cover story that VEGA and I compiled for when a situation like this eventually came up. "2 years ago I was abducted by an organization that went by the name Hades. They were originally an Alliance black-ops group that split off shortly after first contact with extraterrestrials. They wanted me due to my unique genetic material."

"What made you so unique?" TIM asks taking another drag.

"I had a rare genetic disorder that allowed my body to adapt to extreme changes. You see Hades discovered a extinct alien race and before you ask, no they weren't Protheans. This race wasn't nearly as old. After many years of study they discovered 2 things. The first being that this humanoid race mastered interdimensional travel."

Miranda stops me there. "Wait, your telling us that these beings didn't use Mass Effect technology, but could teleport." I could feel the skepticism from here.

Instead of trying to explain something that even I couldn't understand I summon my combat shotgun into my hands for a moment before it blinks away. "Yes, yes they could. Hades believed that it was due to the lack of eezo in the system."

TIM keeps a straight face at my little display, but I can tell that he's more than just curious. "And the second discovery?"

"The earliest remains that were found showed that this race had 23 pairs of chromosomes. Later remains were shown to have 24."

"What does this extra pair do?"

"You 2 are human. The extra chromosome made them super human. They were stronger, smarter, and healed almost instantly."

"...and Hades managed to duplicate their work." TIM guessed.

"Not quite. I'm definitely stronger and faster, but I only heal about 8 times faster than the average human. Child's play when compared to the others."

"Were you the only one to survive this procedure."

"I was the only one to survive the second part." I say placing my hands behind my back, "Another thing that records showed was that this race created a new form of energy that Hades dubbed Argent. They theorized that those with the extra chromosome could manipulate this energy, much like biotics do with eezo. Argent is a bit more...volatile though. They exposed me and the other subjects to high amounts of it in the hopes that we could do the same. It somewhat worked. It allows me to have overwhelming strength but it only lasts for a minute max."

"That's how you resisted my biotics." Miranda says as it suddenly clicks in place.

I shrug, "Your guess is as good as mine. I've never fought a biotic before a few minutes ago. It would seem that argent is resilient to the effects of eezo. We could test that theory at a later date if you wish?"

TIM seems to contemplate his next question, "...What happened to the other subjects?"

'VEGA.'

My omni tool lights up and a video plays. It shows a man that's strapped to a table being lowered into a holding cell. The time frame speeds up to 15 minutes and the man starts undergoing a change. It starts when his hands begin to contort to painful angles before growing in size. All his hair falls off and his lips peel back, revealing a row of razor sharp teeth. His skin turns red and his body grows in size and muscle.

"They became these." I say judging their reactions as the creature lets out a guttural roar. The video may be fake but it's still disturbing to watch.

Miranda looks unnerved at the sight of the monstrosity. TIM remains impassive throughout the transformation.

"What happens next?" Miranda asks after a moment of processing what she just witnessed.

"They threw me in there and fight it. To see which of us was superior. Afterwards they tried putting me on ice. I decided to say fuck off and broke out. I stole the praetor suit, armed myself with anything I could find and destroyed the whole facility." TIM begins to say something but I cut him off, "The whole facility. Nothing left but a crater in the fucking ground."

"How is it that you know so much about me and my operative?"

I think for a moment before shrugging, "Hades had info on everyone, all while remaining a ghost." I look over at Miranda, "And I do mean everyone. Before destroying the facility I copied all the files that I could. I just happen to find your organization a bit more interesting to read about then the others." Man that sounded much better in my head.

"You've given me quite a lot to think about Carter." TIM takes a long drag of his cigarette and lets out a steady stream of smoke. "I'd like a moment alone with operative Lawson."

Instead of answering him I turn around and leave the room.

* * *

 **POV Miranda**

I wait for the door to close behind Alex before turning to TIM.

"He's not telling us everything."

"That's a given. I can tell that he's that kind of man that keeps his cards close to his chest." TIM spoke. He puts out his cigarette. "What is your opinion on him."

"From a professionally stand point, he's an unnecessary risk. He could turn on us without second though. It would be best for us to be rid of him."

"And unprofessionally."

I need to think about my answer for a moment. "He killed the entire crew of a slaver ship, was able to disable me despite my biotics and obviously superior training. He's resourceful, having created an identity for himself and acquiring a source of income within a day of returning to civilization. To top it off he accomplished all of this without raising any flags but our own. He could be a vital asset in what is to come."

TIM nods, seemingly agreeing with my assessment, "Bring him back in."

Walking out of the room I find Alex leaning against the wall next to the door.

"That didn't take long."

"The Illusive Man-"

"Yeah yeah," He says pushing off of the wall, "Timmy wants to speak with me."

My eyes has the urge to twitch but I suppress it. Why does he keep getting under my skin so easily?

We walk back inside and he steps back onto the table.

"I want to make you an offer, Mr. Carter. But first tell me what you know about the Reaper?"

I can't tell what his expression is because of his helmets visor, but I can only assume it's one of confusion.

"...You mean the ones that may or may not be responsible for the disappearance of the Prothean's?" Alex says earning an surprised look from both me and TIM. "Don't look so surprised. Why do you think Hades began their research into super soldiers? They saw the signs as well and tried coming up with a means to combat them...they somewhat succeeded."

"You're a man full of surprise, ."

"Stick around for a bit longer and you see even more." Alex shoulders sag a bit, "I know what you're going to ask me Harper and my answer is no." Before I could say anything he holds up a hand, "But us being at odds doesn't help anyone." He folds his hands behind his back. "I'll work with Cerberus, but not for you. That's all I have to say."

I watch as my boss narrows his eyes at the man, no, super soldier that stood before them.

"Very well Mr. Carter. A partnership it is then." Even though he's in that strange armor, I can see Alex visible relax. "But on one condition..."

* * *

 **POV Alex**

 _"I do believe that that meeting went rather well."_ VEGA chimed sounding quite cheerful.

'It could've definitely gone a lot worse.' I think looking over at Miranda, who looks less then pleased at our current situation.

Oh that one condition TIM was talking about. Yeah well because of it, Miranda and I are going to be getting to know each other very quickly. You may be asking why.

Because the 2 of us are going to be living together!

I mean I don't really mind. I get a new apartment, and as a bonus, I get to live with Miranda Lawson. At least until I leave to join Shepard that is.

...Holy shit I almost forgot about that part. How long have I been here for again? 3 months? So I've still got plenty of time to prepare.

I'm brought out of my musings as the skycar comes to a stop. Getting out I follow Miranda, who had switched out her dress for her usual uniform, into our new place of residence.

It was that different from my last place, just slightly larger but not by much.

After looking the place over I realize something. There is only one bedroom in the whole damn place.

I look over at Miranda and sigh, "I'll take the couch."

"You say that like you had a choice." I just laugh at that statement. Like I was going to have her take the couch.

Taking off my helmet I run a hand through my hair. "You don't think too highly of me do you?"

"I doesn't matter what I think." She says placing a hand on her hip. "All that matters-"

"Is that I can get the job done."

"Is this going to be a recurring thing with you?" She asks hotly, "You finishing my sentences?"

"It's a part of my charm." Walking into the bathroom I strip out of my armor. It's been a long day and I want to take a shower.

I get ready to step into the shower when my omni tool foes off. I check it and find out that it's Harg.

'What could possible need to talk to me about at 2 in the morning?'

Sighing I answer it. "It's pretty late to be calling Har-Ralph? Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down and tell me what happened."

* * *

 **POV Miranda**

'Honestly that man is unbearable.' Massaging my head I go into the bedroom and start changing into something more comfortable.

At least that's what I had in mind until Alex came barging in as I started to peel off my suit.

"Miranda I've-" He takes one look at me and stops dead. His eyes locked onto my partially exposed breasts.

"Yes?" I ask not even trying to cover up. I don't really care if he sees me like this. If we're to live together, us seeing the other partially, or full naked is something we'll just have to get use to. Besides it's not like my chest is completely bare.

He shakes his head and looks me in the eyes, although I can see him struggle to keep himself from looking down. "I've got to go. Something personal has come up that requires my immediate attention."

I raise a brow. ' Hmmm, this could be an opportunity for me to get some more insight about him.'

Zipping my suit back up I walk past him. "Tell me on the way to where we're going."

I don't need to look back to know that he's smirking.

* * *

We walk through the doors to Huerta Memorial Hospital. Alex walks with haste and with purpose. Even while in civilian clothes people move out of the way of his imposing figure.

I follow him through the hospital until we come to a odd group. An scarred Krogan, an Asari child and a young Krogan.

I recognize them as the family of Alex's boss. 'But where's the mother.'

"Uncle Alex," The Asari child says embracing him with tears in her eyes.

Alex returns the hug. Clearly he's closer with the family than I originally thought.

"Taranysa," He picks her up and lets her cry into his shoulder. Making sure that she's comfortable he approaches the older Krogan, "Ralph called me. What happened."

The Krogan looks towards me and looks back to Alex. "Can we talk alone?"

Alex nods and sets Taranysa down. He turns toward me and asks, "Can you watch these 2 for a minute?"

I look at the two children with uncertainty and almost refuse. But I make the mistake of looking the young Asari in the eyes. "Fine." Even I couldn't say no after seeing her face. 'But make it quick.'

Even though I said the last part silently, Alex nods like he heard it before walking away.

* * *

 **POV Alex**

Following Harg down the hall a ways I turn and face him. "What the hell happened that put Bamela in the hospital?!"

The scarred Krogan looked ready to knock someones head off. "THE FUCKING BASTARD LIED TO ME! RAAAAA!" He head butts the wall putting a decent size dent in it. Anyone that was close enough to say anything doesn't.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Who Harg? Damn it tell me!"

Harg takes a calming breath before speaking. "I had to take a loan from a man named Fist."

"The owner of Chora's Den?" I know that name well enough. It's the guy that betrays the shadow broker and nearly gets Tali killed.

"That's the one," He growls. "About a month before you started working for me I had to borrow money from him to keep the shop open. I'm a week late on the agreed payment date. I went and talked to him a few days ago and told him that I'd need a few more days. He agreed and that was that. I should've known that he was planning something."

"Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have hesitated to help. How did he even get close enough to hurt her?" Harg is a scary looking Krogan. I doubt that any hired muscle would want to attack with him around.

He sags his shoulders, "Something tripped the alarm at the shop. I left to go check it out only to see that nothing was wrong. I get home and..."

I piece the rest together. Clenching my fists hard enough to make them bleed I say,"Harg, you stay here and watch over your family. I'm going to pay Fist a visit."

"Alex-"

Ignoring him I walk back to Miranda and the kids. Even though I'm absolutely livid I take a little satisfaction in seeing Miranda out of her are of expertise. She clearly doesn't know how to handle distraught children.

"Miranda." I motion for her to follow me down the hall. She looks relieved to be leaving. I kill that feeling with my next sentence. "I need you to stay here and make sure nothing happens to them."

I'm pretty sure that vein on her forehead wasn't noticeable before. "And where will you be going?"

"Chora's Den," I say with barely restrained anger. "It's important. Do this for me and I'll owe you a favor."

She crosses her arms and looks back at the others, clearly contemplating my words. "...Fine, but know that I intend to collect."

Before she can stop me I pull her into a hug. "Thank you Miranda." I leave before she can even come up with a response.

* * *

I stopped back at the apartment to change into my armor before heading to the bar.

It doesn't take me that long to reach my destination. Even though it'll be going on 4 am soon the place is still pack. Plenty of people drinking, dancing or just sitting at a booth with an Asari dancing for them.

None of that interests me though. Knowing where my target most likely is I move through the crowd, shoving anyone that gets in my way to the side.

I reach the back hall where 2 guards, A human and Turian, stood to keep patrons out. Good thing I'm here on businesses them.

"Sorry man but this place is off-"

The human begins to say but I grab him and the Turian by the shoulder and slam their heads together. Letting them go they crumple to the floor unconscious.

The partiers don't even notice.

I encounter similar resistance 2 more times but they end with the same results.

Entering the back office I find Fist sitting in behind his desk, head back and eyes closed.

"Fist!" He jumps at the sound of my voice.

"Who the hell are you?!" He asks fumbling in his seat.

I don't give him time to finish what he was trying to do as I grab him by the front of his shirt, pull him from his seat and throw him to the ground.

There's a eek sound and an Asari comes out from underneath his desk and runs out of the room. I look at Fist and notice that his zipper is only partially closed.

"Classy," I remark dryly.

He gets to his feet, "Do you know who I am!?" God this guy sound anymore cliche if he tried.

"Don't care." I say and punch him in the stomach, hard. Letting him drop to his knees he keels over holding his injured stomach. "You put someone I care about in the hospital tonight." I crack my knuckles while circling him

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about! Do you know who I work for!?"

...I retract my statement from earlier.

I grab him by his throat and slam him into the wall, his feet hanging off of the floor. "She an Asari that goes by the name Bamela. Does that ring any fucking bells!"

His eyes widen in recognition and laughs, "Oh, I get it now. You must be that washed up Krogan's pal. What, is he too much of a pussy to come himself?"

He quits laugh as I start squeezing his throat, "You'll be wishing he was the one that came in a minute here."

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots. Tell you what I'm feeling generous tonight. Put me down and I'll give you a head start to run." I seem to comply as I let go, "That's a good boy-"

I grab his wrist and twist it painfully, "Your not the one in charge here." I twist his wrist further and there's a snapping sound followed by Fist's cries of pain. He falls to the ground cradling his broken wrist.

"I'm going to rip you to pieces, unless you forget Harg's debt."

"Go to hell! After I'm done with you I'm personally going to the old bastards home and offing his whole fucking family!"

Wrong choice of words. Bring my foot to a rest above his knee, I press on it lightly and activate the thrust jet.

"AHHHHHH!" Fist screams in pain as the flame sears his flesh.

I watch with uncaring eyes as he thrashes around, trying to get out from underneath me. But I just continue to hold steady. I apply pressure until his knee caves in. Deactivating the jet, I take a hold of his foot and pull.

"GRAAAAA!" The sounds of tearing flesh and Fist's screams filled the air, but none could hear it due to the sound off the patrons partying.

* * *

I walk out of Fist's office covered in no small amount of blood. Don't worry though, even if I wanted nothing more than to kill that bastard, he still serves a purpose.

His time will come.

"Stop where you are and put your hands up."

On the other side of the door, I'm greeted with the sight of 3 C-sec officers pointing their weapons at me. Looks like the guards called them.

I do as I'm told and put my hands behind my head, "You might want to call and ambulance. You might be able to save his leg if you act fast enough." I'm lying of course. It would take a fucking miracle for that man to even walk again.

One of the officers move into the office. He comes out a second later and unloads his stomach in the corner.

"He-he needs and ambulance fast!"

'I just told them that.' I sigh as I'm cuffed and led out of the building. The officers put me in the back of a skycar.

It's been a long fucking night.

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: I got the idea for Alex's bullshit back story from the DOOM movie. Not the best cover up but it will suffice until Alex is forced to explain more. But that won't be happening till part 2! Any thoughts on Alex and Miranda living together? I'd love to hear them.**

 **Next chapter may not be out for some time but don't loose faith in me!**

 **Fav/follow and review please!**


	6. Making first impressions

**Zrocker119: Something really important has happened...I got my first full on hate Review!(confetti falls from nowhere) I'll tell you though, had I gotten that review when I first started writing on this sight I would've been offended an gotten upset. Now though, I just found the whole thing to be really fricking hilarious. I mean if somebody wants to waste their time writing a review saying how shitty my story is then sure go ahead. You do you man, you do you.**

 **Be warned for some serious bull shitting in the beginning of this chapter. Also I edited the 2nd and 3rd chapter. I didn't change much, just that I made it so that Alex's weapons no longer completely ignore shields. That's it.**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

I stayed silent throughout the whole ride to the police station. Even when we got there and the officers tossed me into a cell, I didn't speak a word. They only time I did speak was when they asked me to remove my armor. They couldn't tell because of my helmet, but I stared at them blankly and said.

"Sure, if you want me to sit in here with nothing on besides a pair boxer briefs, then I'll do just that."

That ended any and all talk of me taking off my armor. I did take my helmet off though.

Not too long after that, I was taken to an interrogation room and put in a chair. I didn't struggle even when they cuffed me to the table. I could easily break them but I didn't feel like making a scene. They're just cops trying to do their job.

I did the only thing that I could, and that is sit and wait.

Didn't have to wait for very long as the door slid opened and somebody walks in. I curse internally as I see who it is.

First I run into Tali on a slaving ship. And now...

"Hello," Says a familiar looking Turian. "I'm Investigator Garrus Vakarian."

I do my best to keep a straight face. But god damn me and my shitty luck!

Garrus takes a seat across from me and pulls up his omni tool. "Alexander Cater, born and raised on Earth. Son to Jon and Samantha Carter, younger sibling of Gregory Carter. All deceased." Good thing I'm good at hiding my emotions otherwise I'd be giving Garrus a fierce scowl, "Your file doesn't show any sort of aggressive tendencies other than the occasional bar fight."

He forgot to mention my hostile take over of a slaver ship but I choose not to comment.

Garrus taps away at his arm until images of Fist appear between us. "Care to tell me why you suddenly decided to hospitalize this man?"

"...He had it coming." I say not looking away from the pictures. "If not from me then eventually it would've been somebody else...At this moment though I'm sure he's wishing for the latter."

"You tore the mans leg off," Garrus says hotly. "Fist's a known criminal but that doesn't give you the right-"

My chair hits the floor as I rocket to my feet. "That fucker tripped the alarm at my bosses work, waited for him to leave his house, then sent in his goons and had them hospitalize my bosses, no my friends wife while her children were present. DON'T YOU FUCKING TELL ME THAT I HAD NO RIGHT TO DO WHAT I DID!"

"You don't," Wow I didn't think Garrus could glare like that. "That's what C-sec is for."

I laugh dryly at his insult, "Please, you just said that Fist is a known criminal, and yet two children that I see as my own niece and nephew are waiting at the hospital in hopes that their mother will be alright. All because you didn't do your fucking job and put Fist away." It's a low blow but I'm fucking livid about this whole damn situation.

Garrus seems to contemplate my words. He hits a thing on his omni tool and I see the camera in the corner of the room shut off. "I don't always like following protocol but even I've got my limits to what I'll do to get the job done. What you did to that man, regardless of him being a criminal, goes past those limits." The camera comes back on.

Taking a deep breath I force myself to calm down. "Unless you've got something else to add, I think we're done here."

* * *

It has been four days since I was arrested. Not much has really happened.

I was taken back to a holding cell shortly after Garrus had left the room. Not the best first impression, in fact it's probably my worst one to date. With my helmet back on I wait for what comes next.

I had a lot of time to sit and think though.

'Did I act too rash?' I couldn't help but think to myself. 'No. C-sec wouldn't have been able to tie Fist into anything. The bastard would've gotten away scot free.' What had me worried though was how I acted during the whole ordeal. I showed no emotion what to ever when I tortured Fist. The sound of his screams didn't phase me in the slightest.

Just like when I killed demons. But Fist wasn't a demon, he's a human being. But at the time, I saw him as nothing but another monster that I wanted to rip to pieces.

I stare at my hands. Clenching them tightly I think, 'What the hell am I becoming?'

The door opens and an officer stands at the opening. "You're free to go sir."

"Why?" I ask glancing at him. My faceless visor must have made an unnerving sight.

"Orders from the higher ups."

Well this isn't suspicious at all. Standing up I follow him into through the building. We pass by Garrus who I look at out the the corner of my vision.

He looks very displeased with something and is arguing with who I assume is his higher up. He seems to loose his argument and looks my way with venom in his gaze. They must have been arguing about my release.

I could care less of what he thinks of me at the moment. I'll have plenty of time to reconcile with him once we're on the Normandy.

I soon find myself outside, the artificial sun light reflecting off of my visor. I take no more than two steps when someone familiar starts walking beside me.

"You bring a skycar?" I ask not turning to an agitated Miranda.

She walks ahead of me and I follow. We reach her vehicle, get in and are soon in the air heading for home.

"How did you get me out?"

"We've got agents all over the Citadel." She replies smoothly. "Even inside of C-sec."

Of course they do. I'm not even surprised by this point. They do manages to, almost, overthrow the Citadel in the third game after all.

We send the rest of the flight is silence. Or at least that what she would probably want but I can't help but say one more thing.

"I'm surprised that you haven't said anything about me getting arrested."

"There's a time and place for everything." Oh yeah, she's plenty pissed. "We'll be talking about what happened soon enough."

"Looking forward to it."

* * *

The first thing I do when we get back to the apartment is head for the shower. Having spent the last four days in my armor, I smell like shit.

Setting the shower on full blast I let out a sigh of relief as the near scalding water washes over me.

Twenty minutes later I step out with a towel around my waist. I bust out the shaving cream and razor and get to work on removing the 5 o'clock shadow that I have going on. As I finish up I notice that my right eye has completely changed.

What used to be forest green with a red outline is now a sickly yellow with red on the edges. Closing my eyes, I shake my head and look back into the mirror. My eye had gone back to normal, but I can see faint traces of yellow in it.

Before I realize what I'm doing I rear my fist back and punch the mirror. It shatters and cracks spiderweb across its reflective surface. I remove my hand from it, ignoring the shards stuck in my knuckles.

'What the fuck is happening to me?!'

Running a hand through my hair I pick the bits of mirror out of my hand and put on a pair of underwear and pajama bottoms.

I head into the living room and find Miranda sitting on the love seat tapping away on her omni tool. She turns to say something but stops when she notices my bleeding hand.

"It'll heal. I'll pay for the mirror tomorrow." I say over my shoulder as I go into kitchen and start rummaging through the cabinets. A few moments of searching later I pull out an unopened bottle of Blanton's bourbon.

Cracking it open I take a good long swig, "Alright...nag away."

Miranda closes her omni tool and pins me with a glare. "Do you know how much of a risk Cerberus took to get you released?"

I think on her question for a moment. If memory serves me right, then there aren't that many humans in C-sec during the time of the first game. And given that there are still months between now and the start of the game, that number must be even lower.

Miranda doesn't wait for my answer, "We're lucky that the man you hospitalized is a well known and hated criminal. Had it been anyone else then you would've never gotten released, short of breaking out."

"Can I know who got me out? I'd like to buy him or her a drink."

She is not amused. "Are you capable of taking anything serious? And will you put the drink down! I don't need you going and getting drunk!" She didn't yell, but the underlining rage made it clear that she wasn't going to tolerate any shit from me.

To bad for her though, I currently couldn't give a flying fuck. While looking her in the eye I bring the bottle to my lips, tilt it back and proceed to drink the whole bottle. I even smack my lips in satisfaction.

"Relax princess. One of the side effects of my enhancements is that I can no longer get drunk. Trust me I've tried." Setting the empty bottle down I lay myself out over the couch.

"What are you doing."

"I'm going to try and fall asleep on this very comfortable couch."

"We aren't done talking." I swear to what ever god you believe in, that the room got colder when she spoke.

"Talk away." Folding my hands behind my head I close my eyes. The couch felt like heaven compared to what I had to use for the bast three nights.

The temperature drops even further. I should real get the AC looked at. "I don't understand why The Illusive Man agreed to your terms. If it were up to me, you would've been captured and taken to one of our facilities for study."

'At least she's honest.' I think dryly. "Then it's a good thing that you're not in charge. You'd have a shit ton of paperwork to do after I kill all of the guys you would've sent."

"Arrogance is unbecoming of you."

"After all of the shit I've been through, I think I've earned the right to be a little arrogant."

A few moments of silence pass between us. With a sigh I say. "I realize that what I did was stupid. I knew that going into that club. But that fucker hurt one of the few people that I hold dear and he had to pay. I don't expect someone as cold as you to understand."

The only response I get it that sound of her walking away and a door opening and closing.

'Good talk Alex,' I berate myself. 'Good talk.'

* * *

Several months have passed since I was released from C-sec and things between Miranda and I have been pretty rocky. Even though I stay out of trouble I can tell that she barely tolerates my presence. She hasn't been outright hostile but she hasn't been friendly either.

Miranda would disappear every once in awhile to over see other projects and Cerberus cells. Not too surprised really. As the second in command, she has better things to do than watch(cough babysit cough) my ass.

As surprising as it may sound there are times when we do get along. They may be few and far between but they do happen. It's mostly during the times that we spar with one another, which we do a lot.

She helps me out with my martial arts, which I have been neglecting lately, and I help her when it comes to fighting an opponent that can resist her biotics. We're pretty even when it comes to fighting. I have reach and brute force, while she has biotics and flexibility.

We don't hold back all that much either. The only reason neither of us have gotten seriously injured is because of our heightened healing factors.

I discovered that there is something that I have one over her though and that is my skills in that kitchen. She tried making breakfast one time and well...calling it a disaster would be a severe understatement.

I told her as much and she responded with.

"I'd like to see you try and do better."

I only wish that I had taken a picture of her face when I did just that. Safe to say that I was in charge of preparing the food from that point onward.

Another thing is that my nightmares haven't gone away. In fact they're getting worse. Luckily Miranda hasn't seemed to really take notice. The few times that she's seen me tired I just wave it off and say that I didn't get much sleep.

I can tell that she doesn't fully believe me but I'm just glad that she hasn't pushed the issue.

For now that is.

* * *

I struggle to stay standing as my body glows purple from Miranda increasing my body's mass. The two of us are currently in a Cerberus owned warehouse that we use for practicing our skills.

I keep standing for another 20 seconds before collapsing to the floor. I'm stuck like this for several seconds before the pressure lets up.

"You lasted 12 seconds longer than last time."

Flipping over so that I'm now I my back I see Miranda standing over me and immediately wish that I stayed facing the ground. Instead of her usual body suit Miranda is wearing a black sports bra and shorts, leaving a whole lot of her flawless skin showing.

The games never said how comfortable Miranda is with her body and that she has no problem showing it off. Then again given what her normal attire is I shouldn't be too surprised.

Regardless, it takes all of my willpower to keep myself from getting aroused. Not an easy feat when she's standing right over me, giving me a perfect view of which to admire her curves.

'God I need to get laid.'

"It would seem that your body is adapting to the effects of my biotics." Miranda says wiping away a small trail of blood from her nose. "I almost gave myself a migraine from trying to bring you down."

Finding my footing I stand up and wipe away the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead. "Don't push yourself so far next time. The last thing I want is for you to make yourself pass out." Miranda may not like me all that much, but I can't say the same. She's really grown on me over the course of these last few months.

 _"Alex it's almost time for the party."_ VEGA says through my earpiece.

'Thanks for the heads up VEGA.' Activating my omni tool I check the time. "We're gonna have to cut today's session short."

Miranda looks at me quizzically before she remembers what was going on later today. "Right, you've got that party to go to."

"You can still come you know. The offer still stands." I say trying to sway her.

"I don't do well around children." Before I can argue more she heads towards the back where the showers and changing room is. "No means no Carter." That's another thing. Since we started rooming together Miranda has been calling me by my last name. I've tried convincing her to call me Alex but she wouldn't listen.

She's still in her Cerberus cheerleader mode, but it won't be too much longer until I break through that huge layer of ice she keeps herself wrapped up in.

'Well I tried.' Shrugging off her refusal I get changed into my casual clothes and leave, but not before calling out. "I'll try and be back at a reasonable time."

"Try to not get arrested this time!" She calls back.

'And here I thought she didn't have a sense of humor.' "Are you ever going to let that go?" I receive no answer. "I'll take that as a no!"

Leaving the warehouse I start making my way towards Harg's shop. Harg and I had cleared the place out of any weapons in preparations for the party. Before I get there though, I have one stop to make.

* * *

Buy the time I make it to the shop, the party is just getting started. I see multiply Asari, and a few Turians going inside. Walking into the shop I announce my arrival. "I'm not too late to the party am I?"

"Uncle Alex!"

And I am promptly tackled to the ground by my surrogate niece and nephew. Well they tried to tackle me. Instead of falling over at their combined weight, I wrap my arms around them and lift them off of the floor and into a hug, them laughing as I do.

Putting them down I pat them both on the head. "Happy birthday you two!"

That's right. This is a birthday party. Now Ralph and Taranysa don't share the same birthday, but the actually days are only a week apart from each other. So Harg and Bamela decided that they would celebrate both birthdays on the halfway point.

"Glad that you could make it." Harg says as he and Bamela walk up to us.

"Like I would miss out on my favorite niece and nephew's birthday. I'm hurt that you would think so low of me." I spoke with mock hurt.

Bamela just laughs, "We're happy regardless."

I share her look. "If it's alright with the two of you, I'd like to give them their presents now." Hearing this Ralph and Taranysa turn to their parents with pleading expressions.

Harg shares an amused look with his wife and nods. Stepping out really quickly, I come back in with the gifts. Sitting in the palm of my left hand is a small grey kitten, while a white varren pup with a dark blue stripe rests in my right.

The kids eyes light up as I hand the small creatures to them.

"It's so soft!" Taranysa says joyously, petting the kitten as it nestles into her arms.

Ralph looks at the pup in his hands with a nervous gaze. That quickly changes to joy when the pup licks his face. "Stop that!" The pup continues to do as it wants causing Ralph to laugh.

"They're gonna need names." Harg says putting a hand on his children's shoulders.

"The kittens female and the varrens male." I say to help them along.

"I'm going to call her..." Taranysa's face scrunches up cutely in concentration. "Janiri!"

"After the Asari goddess of seasons." She nods her head.

Ralph frowns as he struggles to come up with a cool name for the pup and looks to his father. "We don't have any gods that we look up to do we?"

"The only thing I can think of is Kalros, but she's just an enormous thresher maw." His father informs him making Ralph look crestfallen.

"I think I can help." I say putting a hand on Ralph's shoulder. "Early human civilizations had many deities. If that's the kind of name you want then I'm sure we can find one you like." I chuckle as Ralph nods his head vigorously. "We'll come up with a name latter buddy. For now though we've got a party to enjoy."

With that said Ralph and Taranysa head over to where the other kids were to show them their new pets and Bamela went to greet arriving guests, Leaving me and Harg.

"Hope you don't mind me sticking with you." I say to Harg. "I don't know anyone here."

"You and me both my friend." Harg glances around at everyone, "All these people are my kids friends from school and my wife's coworkers. The only other person I know isn't showing up until later."

"About that," Spoke a gruff voice. "There's been a change of plans."

Beside me Harg grins a monstrous grin and we turn around to see a heavily scarred Krogan with a red head plate.

'You've got to be fucking kidding me.'

While I'm mentally keeping myself from fanboying, Harg goes up to one of the most notorious mercenaries and pulls him into the Krogan equivalent of a brotherly hug.

"Wrex!" The two rear their heads back smash them together. They aren't even phased, "You're early!"

"I finished my contract sooner than expected." Wrex grins, "The fool thought he could take me head on."

"A fool indeed." Harg turns to me and waves me over. "Wrex, this is my employee that I was telling you about the last time we talked. Alex this is-"

"Urdnot Wrex."

Wrex looked at me with a slightly curious gaze. "You've heard of me?"

"Any mercenary worth his salt knows of you." I say holding out my arm.

Wrex takes it, "Your a merc?"

"Former," I cross my arms. "I was a freelancer for a few years but decided that I no longer wished to be one. I kind of like my new job though. Not as exciting or glamorous but it's a living."

Wrex just nods. "Harg's told me a bit about you. Including what you did for him and his family, and for that you have my respect. I'll buy you a drink the next time I'm free. Speaking of your family Harg, where are they. Unfortunately I need to get going and I wish to say hi to Bamela and the kids. Been too long since I've last seen them."

"Business?" Harg asks to which Wrex nods. "Bamela is over there talking with some work friends and the kids are running around somewhere in that general direction."

Wrex nods us a goodbye and moves on towards the others.

Once he's out of ear shot I grab Harg's shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me that you're friends with Urdnot Wrex?!"

"Friends? I'm his uncle."

"...Let me rephrase that. Why didn't you tell me that your the uncle of Urdnot Fucking Wrex?!" I all but yell while shaking him.

Harg chuckles, "Somebodies a fan."

"The dude killed a thresher maw on foot," I say giving him an excellent deadpan look. "How can I not admire the lizard? The guy is a badass through and through!" As my mind calms down from being thoroughly blown from meeting Wrex I realize something.

'If Wrex is here then that means...' I suddenly go ridged, 'I only have about a month or two until shit hits the fan.'

"Alex?" I'm brought out of my stupor by Harg slapping me upside the head.

"Sorry what?" I intelligently say.

"I was thanking you for helping set all of this up but now I want to know what the hell caused you to freeze up like that."

"Sorry," I say while rubbing my neck. "Just remembered something. Don't worry about it." Harg looks at me quizzically for a moment and nods.

As he walks away my expression goes from happy to nearly blank. As much fun as these last months have been, it's time for me to prepare for the up coming storm.

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: For starters, I would like to apologize for the meeting between Garrus and Alex and for how Alex gets out of C-sec. I tried coming up with something better but I just couldn't think of anything. So sorry if you found it lacking.**

 **Also for those thinking that Alex and Miranda would be happening right now, sorry but that's still a long ways off. As in that won't be happening until part 2! I'm so F***ING EVIL!**

 **Next chapter finally marks the beginning of the games, and Alex reunites with a friend in an explosive way!**


	7. Waits over Time to get to work!

**Zrocker119: 215 favorites and 271 follower. I can only say this...HOLY F***ING SHIT! Never did I think that any of my stories would become this popular. There's no expressing how happy this makes me.**

 **Now enough of this mushy shit. You came here to read and read you shall!**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

Seven weeks have come and gone since I met Wrex...and the anticipation of what is to come is slowly driving me insane. Well more so than I already am. Cause lets face it, I'm pretty fucking far from sane!

The moment I agreed to be sent into the universe of mass effect, I took whatever shred of sanity I had, ran it over with an eighteen wheeler and backed up over it when it tried to get back up.

That paint a good picture of my current state of mind? Good. moving on now.

It's a relatively nice day on the Citadel and Harg had let me off work early. With nothing better to do I started to walk around and try to enjoy the sights. A few minutes latter and I had somehow ended up in a bar nursing a beer.

I'm absentmindedly watching the news of one of those weird TV looking things when it happens. In big bold letters, the words "GETH ATTACK EDEN PRIME!"

"Hey!" Having got the bartenders attention I point towards the screen, "Could you turn that up please?" They do and I can hear what the Asari anchor is saying.

"-rlier today the human colony on Eden Prime was attack and almost destroyed by the Geth. There isn't much information right now but we can gather that the Geth were after a recently discovered prothean beacon. But what does this attack mean for the systems alliance? Does this attack show that they aren't capable of protecting their co-"

And like that they lost me. Tuning out the rest of the report I turn my thoughts towards more important things. 'If the attack happened earlier today then there's a chance that Shepard is already on the citadel. If that's the case, then I don't have much time before-'

My omni tool goes off. I answer it without bothering to see who it is. "Carter speaking." I say in mid drink.

"Alex!" A frantic yet familiar voice shouts

Doing a spit take I stare at my omni tool. "Tali! Wow it's been a long time!"

"Alex," She takes a long pause, like she wasn't sure of herself. "I know this is out of nowhere but I could really use some help right now."

Putting my drink aside I give Tali my undivided attention. "What's going on?"

"I can't say much. There's a change that this call is being tapped. Meet my at these coordinates in half an hour."

"Tali wai- and she hung up." Sighing I look at the coordinates she sent me. Typing them into my omni tool and see that they would take me to a secluded alleyway.

Wait a second. Tali+alley=...

'HOLY SHIT!' Paying for my drink I ran home as fast as I could. Chances are that I'm going to be walking into a fire fight. If so, then I've got to be prepared.

* * *

"Where's the shadowbroker? Where's fist?" Tali asks. Looking passed the Turian she spies two Salarians and another a human.

"They'll be here. Where's the evidence." The Turian puts a hand on her shoulder and starts sliding it down.

He gets a little to touching for her liking and shoves his hand away. "No way, the deal's off." Her omni tool suddenly goes off. Glancing down at it Tali sees in large letters.

GET DOWN

And that was when all hell broke loose.

As she dives to the side three rockets fly past her. One hits the Turian that had put his hand on her while the last two detonated on the Salarians. Their shields stood no chance against the explosives and are now piles of gore.

The remaining human brought his rifle to bare and prepared to fire when a giant blur slammed into him. The man hit the wall with a loud crash. He starts to get back up but a thunderous boom is heard and he falls back down, only now he's missing his head along with most of his upper body.

Tali sees a shadow falls over her and looks up. She smiles underneath her helmet at the sight of Alex with a double barrel shotgun in one hand and a rocket launcher over his shoulder.

"You know what," He says as the rocket launcher seemingly disappears, something she'll definitely ask about later. "You and I have completely different definitions of a reunion." Holding out a hand he helps Tali to her feet. "It's good to see you kid."

"It's nice to see you too Alex, and for the last time I'm not a kid." The sound off running boots meets their ears.

* * *

 **POV Alex**

Mine and Tali's gaze turn towards the sounds of boots on the ground and see a peculiar group of individuals.

Three humans, a Turian and a Krogan.

Of course I know who they all are.

Ashley Williams, Kaidan Alenko, Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex and last but certainly not least Commander Shepard.

And a female Shepard at that.(For the sake of not over explaining things, it's the default ME3 Fem Shepard appearance)

A female that is now pointing a gun at me, along with the rest of the group, aside from Wrex that is.

* * *

 **3rd person POV**

Commander Jane Shepard is someone that is rarely taken off guard or surprised. So when she and her rather strange group ran into the alley where they expected a meeting to be taking place, her eyes widened by the slightest margin when she saw the mutilated bodies thrown about.

It was a sickening sight, but being the N7 that she is, Jane had seen this and more.

Seeing the group appraoching with weapons drawn the quarian started to go for her weapon but the giant beside her raised a hand, gesturing for her to stand down.

"If they wanted us dead Tali, then we would already be filled with holes. You're not going to shoot right?" He asks her. He doesn't even tense up at the gun that are currently trained on him.

Looking at him for a moment longer, Jane gestures for her squad to stand down, "We were on our way to this position when we heard explosions and gunfire."

"Sorry about that." The man looks around at the carnage. "But when a bunch of thugs tried roughing up my friend here," He point towards the quarian, Tali if Jane heard correctly. "Things get messy really fucking quick."

"You did all of this...by yourself?" Ashley says skeptically. No one could blame her either. The only visible weapon that Jane could see on him is a...is that a double barrel shotgun?

"Yes," He responds, ejecting the spent shells and loading in two fresh ones.

"I believe it." Wrex seems to nod in approval at the man. "I can see that you've been busy Alex."

Jane does a double take and turns to the mercenary, "You know this guy Wrex?"

The scarred Krogan grunts, "He's a friend."

"I know him as well Shepard." Garrus steps forward. "Brought him in eight months back. He tortured and mutilated Fist and got a free pass doing it."

"Had you done your fucking job right in the first place then it wouldn't have happened." Alex responded calmly.

"Hold up!" Jane says standing between the two of them. "I don't know what happened between you two in the past and at the moment, I don't care. We've got more important things to deal with right now."

She sees Alex's hand clench momentarily but soon relaxes. "Right." Reaching up he pulls off his helmet, revealing his somewhat handsome face. "Let's try this again. Alexander Carter." He offers his hand.

Jane takes it. "Commander Jane Shepard. These two are Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko." She says while pointing towards the other two humans in the group. "We came here because your friend there has some information that Saren Arterius wants."

Alex raises a brow. "Why would the Councils top lapdog want anything that Tali has? No offence meant Tali."

"None taken," Tali chuckles a bit, "As for what Saren wants let's discus it somewhere else."

"The human embassy should suffice," Garrus suggests.

"Alright then." Alex walks past them putting his helmet on and attaches his weapon to the back of his waist. "Let's not stay here any longer then we need two. Too many spots for snipers."

"Who said that you're coming along?" Jane asks.

Spinning on the balls of his feet Alex faces them while walking backwards. "Absolutely fucking nobody!"

* * *

 **POV Alex**

The walk to the embassy is a rather quick one, but I decided to make conversation with the others.

"So how have you been this last year Tali?"

"Things haven't been easy." She says rubbing her wrist. "Many don't hold my people in high regard, but I've met some nice people and have seen so many different things."

I nudge her with my elbow, "Don't forget that you still owe me a drink."

She nudges me back. "Last I checked it was a whole bar."

I laugh at this.

While the two of us were conversing Jane was listening it. "How do you two know each other?"

I look at her, "It's a long story. I'll tell you some other time." Jane stares for a moment and nods.

"Another time then."

Our ragtag group arrives at the embassy a few minutes later where two humans are waiting for us.

"Firefights and an all out assault on Chora's Den. You really like making my life difficult don't you Jane?" Says the balding Caucasian that I recognize as Donnel Udina.

I nearly growl, but stop when I notice something. The first being that Udina called Shepard by her first name. Normally I'd chalk this up to this being real and not a game, but the second thing I notice is what really causes me to stop.

His words sounded harsh, but he was smiling while saying it.

"Sorry Donnel," And Jane is smiling back! "But it will all be worth it when we present this new evidence."

"Is that why you've assembled this rather, unique group?" Udina asks looking all of us over with no traces of disdain in his gaze.

'I feel like I'm in an episode of the twilight zone.' I think finding this whole situation here to be strange.

"Tali here says she has information connecting Saren to the Geth." Jane says as Tali steps forward.

"The Geth haven't been seen outside of the Veil since they exiled my people. So when I heard about the Geth attack I got curious. I followed a patrol to an uncharted world and waited for one to become separated from its unit. Disabling it I removed it's memory core."

David Anderson, the badass himself, spoke up. "I thought that the Geth fry their memory core as a defense mechanism."

"They do, but if your quick, careful and very lucky, small caches of data can be saved." Tapping on her omni to Tali brings up an audio file. "This is what I was able to piece together."

Playing it we all hear what was recorded.

 _"_ Eden _Prime was a major victory,"_ The voice speaking is easily recognizable as Saren's. _"_ _The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit."_

...

"Well fuck me." I say breaking the silence. "Regardless of how far their head are up their own asses, even the council can argue against this."

Wrex is the only one that laughs openly but I can see others either grinning or holding back their laughter.

"There's still more you know." Tali says sending me a look. I just shrug. "Saren wasn't working alone."

The same file is played again but this time they hear the rest of it. _"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."_

"Well that's not fucking ominous." Wrex grunts out.

"I don't recognize the second voice," Udina holds his chin in thought, "The one that was talking about the Reapers."

"What's a Reaper? Some new race?" Jane asks.

I almost bite my tongue to keep myself from saying the answer to her question.

"According to the Geth," Tali begins, "The Reapers were a hyper advanced race that existed 50,000 years ago, hunted the Prothean's to total extinction and then simply vanished."

Udina doesn't seem to by it. "That seems a bit far fetched."

"Hold on now," Jane rubs her forehead. "That sounds a lot like the vision I got from the beacon. I think I saw the Prothean's getting wiped out by the Reapers."

"The Geth see these Reapers the pinnacle of non organic life and worship them as gods."

"And the Geth think Saren can bring them back." I say finishing Tali's sentence.

I see Udina rub his forehead as if he were trying to fight off a migraine. "The Council is going to love this."

"I don't care if these Reapers are real or not." I say playing ignorant. Stepping forward I jab a finger at Tali's omni tool. "But what we do know is that there's a rouge Spectre with an army."

"He's right. Regardless of whether or not these Reapers exist, Saren is the threat we need to worry about." Says Anderson.

Udina nods in agreement. "This needs to be brought to the Council immediately."

"What about the Quarrian?" Wrex asks looking at Tali.

"My name's Tali." She says crossing her arms. "I may not look like much but I can handle myself in a fight. Let me come with you Shepard."

The others look at her with uncertainty and I choose to speak up. "I can vouch for her combat capabilities Shepard."

"If Alex thinks she can fight then she must be able two." Wrex shrugs, "Couldn't hurt to have a tech expert as well."

"I was going to let her on anyway." Jane holds out a hand and Tali shakes it. "Welcome to the crew Tali." Turning to me she asks, "What about you?"

"I don't do clean Shepard." I jerk a thumb back in the direction of the alley where my most recent kills are. "That isn't even the start of what I'm capable of. Point me at a target and expect it to be a unrecognizable pile of gore."

Jane sends me a smirk, "I think I can handle what ever mess you make."

I will soon make her eat those words.

* * *

Following behind Anderson we head for a Council Champers and Arrive just as Udina finishes presenting the evidence.

"You wanted proof, There it is." I can't see Udina's expression from my angle but I can tell from his tone that he's being more than a bit smug.

The Turian councilor, Sparatus if my memory is correct, speaks. "This evidence is irrefutable ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."

"I recognize the other voice." Councilor Tevos began, "Matriarch Benezia."

"Are we suppose to know who that is?" Jane asks.

"Matriarch's are powerful Asari that have entered the final stages of there lives. Revered for their wisdom and experience, they serve as guides to my people." Tevos explained looking a little distraught at the notion of one of her people being involved in Saren's plot. "Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic and she has many followers. She'll make a formidable ally for Saren."

The last councilor, Valen chooses to speak his thoughts. "I'm more interested about these Reapers that they mentioned. What do you know about them?"

Anderson steps up. "Only what we extracted from the Geth's memory core. The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that hunted the Prothean's to extinction and then they vanished."

"The Geth believe the Reapers to be gods and that Saren is the prophit for their return." Jane adds.

"We think that this conduit that they are speaking of is the key to bringing the Reapers back." Anderson says folding his arms behind his back.

I basically tune the rest of the conversation out at this point. I can see that this part is going to play out the sames as usual. Instead I turn my attention what will be happening in the very near future.

I've already got my pass onto the Normandy, so that's one less thing to worry about. Getting my weapons will be easy enough. Explaining how I can make said weapons appear when ever and where ever I want will be a pain in the ass, but I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

As I start to think about more a shove brings me out of my thoughts.

Looking up I see Jane in front of me. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Did you hear anything within the last four minutes?"

"Something about you becoming a Spectre and being tasked to hunt down Saren." I shrug my shoulders. "So nothing to big."

Jane raises a brow in clear amusement. "You're not an easily impressed person are you."

I shake my head. "It's not that I'm not impressed. It's just that I'm going to save celebrating for when we take Saren down." Looking around I see that everyone else had already left. "Where did everyone else go?"

"They all went to go and get supplies. We'll all meet back at the Normandy later." She starts walking away. "I'm heading to C-sec to look at the gear and weapons they have reserved for Spectre's."

"I'll come with." I decide falling in beside her. "It'll be nice walking in there without cuffs." She sends me a look. "Long story. I'm sure you'll hear it from me or Garrus sometime withing the foreseeable future."

"I'll be sure to hear it from both of you."

* * *

We head into C-sec, but not even five minutes later are walking back out and Jane looks more than pissed off.

"I can't believe that Spectre's have to pay for their gear!"

Chuckling I motion for her to follow me. "I know a place that you can get good gear for a cheaper price. I was going to be heading there after C-sec anyway."

Jane doesn't even argue as she's still fuming about the prices Spectre's have to pay for the latest gear.

A short walk later and the two of us are in Harg's shop. Harg is behind the counter but he's not alone. Standing beside him is Taranysa.

"Uncle Alex!" The young Asari runs around the counter and hugs my waist.

"Hey kiddo." I say while hugging her back. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"It's bring your kid to work day." Harg explains setting down his data pad. "Ralph went with Bamela and I took Taranysa." He nods towards Jane. "Who's your friend?"

"Jane Shepard." She says shaking Harg's hand. "Alex here told me that I can get some good weapons and gear here for a decent price. I'm going after a rouge Spectre and I need the best."

Harg grins, "So you're the new Spectre I've been hearing about."

"Looks like I'm famous. Go figure." Feeling a tugging on her hand Jane looks down to see that it's Taranysa. "High there. My name's Jane, what's yours?"

"I'm Taranysa," She says happily. "You're very pretty!"

Jane smiles and pats the Asari on her head. "Why thank you. You're pretty as well." Taranysa blushes up a storm at the complement.

"Harg." He looks at me and I jerk my head to the side. Going to the other side of the shop I fill him in on what I'm going to be doing.

"So you're going with Shepard to hunt down Saren."

"That's right. She's going to need all of the help she's going to get."

"...What about these Reapers that you mentioned." Harg looks over to see Shepard smiling and talking with his daughter. "Am I going to need to worry about my families safety?"

I Look over at Taranysa as well and sigh. I can't risk him figuring out that I know more than I'm letting on, but I don't want his family to be in harms way. "If I come to find out that they're in danger in anyway, you'll be the first person I call. You have my word on that."

Harg turns back toward me and nods. Grabbing my shoulder he and I lightly buy heads "You take care of yourself kid."

"You too, you old dinosaur." I glance at my omni tool. "I've got a call that I need to make and then I've got to stop at my place. Tell Shepard that I'll meet her at the ship."

Heading out of the shop I begin making my way towards the apartment. Bringing up my omni tool I dial Miranda's number. It goes to voicemail. 'She must be pretty busy.' "Miranda, it's Alex. Listen, I'm going to be gone for awhile. No doubt you've heard of Eden prime. Well I managed to get on the ship that's going after the one responsible." I pause as I try and think of something else to say. I don't come up with anything. "I'll try and get a hold of you later."

* * *

Around an hour later I'm at the docks waiting for everyone else to arrive.

 _"You seem nervous Alex."_

'That's because I am nervous VEGA.' I sigh for the umpteenth time that day.

"How long have you been waiting?" I look up to find Wrex and Tali walking towards me, Wrex being the one that spoke.

I shrug. "Not that Long. Nervous?"

"Very/Eager." They spoke in unison. I'll leave you to decide who said what. I'll give you a hint though. Wrex was grinning while he spoke.

"Good to know."

The three of us wait in mostly silence, only speaking to ask how things have been. Thankfully it wasn't too much longer before Shepard and the others arrived.

"Everyone ready to go?" Shepard asks once everyone was there. A collective of yeses and nods are her answers. "In that case I'll meet you all on the ship after I talk with the Anderson and Udina."

Everyone heads onto the ship and but I stay for a moment. "Can I ask you something ambassador?"

Udina raises a brow, "I don't see why not."

"Most of the time politics and the military don't mix all that well. Why is it that you seem so...easy to work with."

Udina chuckles in amusement. I find the image both highly refreshing and disturbing. "You would be correct with that statement. But to answer your question that would be because I used to be a military man myself. I retired and became a politician to make things a bit easier for those that risk their life for the betterment of everyone else."

...Wow. I wasn't expecting that from Udina of all people. I guess I can't judge everyone I know in game because of the things they were programmed to do throughout the series.

"Huh...Never thought I would respect someone that has a higher pay check then me. Let alone a politician." I stick out my hand.

"I looked you up once I heard from Jane that you would be joining her crew, Alexander Carter." He shakes my hand but there's and underlining threat to his tone. "I hope that you won't be a danger to this crew."

He can't see it because of my helmet, but I'm grinning at his words. "A politician with a backbone. I like that." With that said I head onto the Normandy

'Thing will only get more interesting from here.'

 **END**


	8. Welcome Aboard

**Zrocker119: Sorry for the long wait, but I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I just couldn't seem to find out how I wanted to do it so I apologize if it seems to be lacking. I'll more than likely come back and edit it at a later date. Next chapter though, be ready for some heads to roll!**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

Jane sighs quietly to herself. She had just finished giving her new crew a motivational speech about the mission that they're now undertaking. Even after Anderson and Udina assured that them giving her the Normandy was a mutual decision between them and nod the council, she still felt like she was taking the ship from the captain.

"You should do motivational speeches more often Commander. Makes us lesser folk feel all warm and fuzzy." Quips the ships pilot, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau.

Jane smiles slightly at this. She likes Joker a lot. Despite having Vrolik syndrome he's rather easy going and always seems to have a some sort of snarky/sarcastic remark to brighten up the mood.

"Maybe I'll make it a weekly thing." Jane jokes right back as she leaves and heads through the command center.

After a an elevator ride that lasted much longer than it should have, Jane reaches the cargo hold where most of her new crew mates had chosen to set up shop.

Coming out of the elevator, Ashley and Wrex have taken over the let side of the cargo hold while Garrus and Alex took the right.

Ashley seemed to be going over some equipment by the lockers while Wrex just leaned up against a nearby locker looking intimidating. Garrus is underneath the Mako working on it.

Alex has taken over the area that once held the recreations officer and is currently standing in front of a work bench. He seems to be assembling what looks like a overly large assault rifle of some kind.

He's outside of his armor, wearing combat boots, jeans and a black wife-beater, allowing her to see just how much muscle he was packing underneath. Looks like his armor didn't just make him look big. This man has some of the largest muscles she has ever seen.

She is just more than a little turned on by the sight.

 **Insert I Am Machine by Three Days Grace**

A Jane nears him she hears music playing from his omni tool and raises an eyebrow. A little known fact but Jane likes to listen to rock music in her spare time. Alex is definitely listening to rock right now but she doesn't recognize the band or the song. Must be a new band that she hasn't heard of.

"Do you need something Shepard or are you just here to stare at my guns?" Alex asks looking up from his HAR.

"Just making my rounds." Leaning against a crate she crosses her arms. "Getting to know the crew. Decided to start with you."

"A leader that wants to know the people she's working with. I like that." Cocking the enormous rifle he sets it aside and grabs the double barrel she saw him with earlier. Disassembling it he starts to clean it. "Ask away, but don't expect me to answer them all right away Jane. You don't mind if I call you that right?"

"Not at all. I'm not one for formalities anyway." She smiles and crosses her arms. "So, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself."

"You want my life's story or just the summary?"

"I've still got the rest of the crew to meet with you know." She say jokingly.

"Life's story it is then." Alex responds with a chuckle and shuts off the music, "I'm joking. Well I use to be a freelancer."

"Use to?" Jane asked with a raised brow.

"I did it up till a few years ago before finally retiring."

"Aren't you a little too young to be retired?"

Alex grunts. "I never said I stopped working, I'm 29 damn it. I just quit being a merc. Anyway I went to the Citadel, met Harg and ended up working for him. Been living life pretty easily for the last year." He glances over at Garrus, where the sounds of his work could be heard coming out from underneath the Mako. "Except for one time that is."

Jane follows his gaze. "Garrus mentioned something about meeting you in an interrogation room. Something about you confronting fist. What's the story behind that?" She knows most of the facts from Garrus, but Jane wants to hear it from Alex's perspective.

Setting his weapon aside Alex leans onto the workbench, his eyes burning with rage. "The fucker hurt somebody close to me. I walked into his office, gave him a taste of what would happen if he did so again and left. Got picked up by C-sec while leaving his office."

"Fist had a prosthetic leg. Garrus told me he had to get it after having a run in with you. Did you really cut his leg off?"

Alex chuckles darkly. The sound makes Jane shudder involuntarily, "He wished it was as clean as cutting it off." Shaking his head he faces her. "I protect my own Jane, and will go to any lengths to make sure that others understand that. Fist thought he was untouchable. I proved him wrong."

"...I can understand the need to protect family." Jane says thinking of her own mother and brother. If someone were to go after them and got away with it. She pushes those thought aside. "My mother and brother can take care of themselves, but I wouldn't hesitate to help them if they were in danger."

Alex looks surprised by her declaration. 'She has a brother!? Things really are different from the games.'

"So how long were you in for?"

He snaps out of his thoughts, "Four days. A friend of mine pulled some strings and got me released."

"You must have friends in high places."

Alex responds with a shrug.

Jane watches him clean his weapon for a moment before asking, "What made you want to join this crew?"

Alex actually stops what he's doing and seems to think about his answer. "I'm not really sure myself. Maybe to give those that died on Eden Prime some form of rest knowing that the one responsible will pay for his crimes."

Jane starts to say something but Alex's omni tool suddenly goes off.

He glances down at it a looks back at her. "I've got to take this."

Giving him a curious look before nodding, "Go ahead. Thanks for your time Alex."

* * *

 **Alex's POV**

"Anytime." As Jane walks away I find my gaze being drawn to her rear. She may not have the same curves as Miranda, but damn she's still beautiful.

I'm brought out of my day dreaming by the sound of my omni tool going off again. 'Damn this is going to suck.' Patching it through to my ear piece I speak. "Hey Miranda."

"A voicemail."

A chill runs down my spine at the cold tone in her voice. Time for plan B.

"Sorry, but I can not come to my omni tool right now. Please leave a message a-"

"You already said my name Carter."

"Damn." Grabbing the Combat Shotgun I disassemble and begin the process of cleaning it. "I'm not sure what you want me to say Miranda. I had a chance to go after the bastard responsible for Eden Prime and I took it."

I may not be able to see her face but I just know that she's frowning.

"I'm not upset."

I almost drop the barrel. "What? Really?"

"We caught wind that Saren may have gotten his hands on Reaper Tech shortly after Shepard was assigned to go after him. The Illusive Man and I were trying to get an operative on board of the Normandy, but then I got your message."

I can see where this is going. "You want me to send you any information I find on the Reapers."

"That would be correct."

I'm not all that surprised by what she's asking of me. Sighing I say. "I'll see what I can do, but if I find anything that will put any lives in danger, I'm destroying it."

"...I'm not going to be able to change your mind am I?"

"This is one thing that I will not budge on Miranda." There are many things that playing mass effect has taught me, but if there's one to take to heart it's this. Do not fuck with Reaper tech!

"Just send me what you can and keep me informed of what happens while on board the Normandy." With that said Miranda hangs up, leaving me to my own thoughts.

'Damn it.' Putting my gun back together I lean against the table, pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. The hell am I suppose to do about Cerberus? I'm still reeling over the fact that Jane has a brother.

Wanting to think about something else I look at the Mako. I can see Garrus's feet sticking out underneath.

'Might as well as get this over with.'

Going over to the armored vehicle I lean against the side of it and nudge the turian's foot.

"Who is it?"

"Got time to talk Garrus?"

"...I'm a little busy at the moment." He does not sound happy.

"All I need is a minute."

There's a long pause and for a moment I thought that he wouldn't come out from underneath the vehicle.

A moment of two later Garrus slides out, not looking all that happy while doing so. "What do you want?"

"I want to bury the hatchet between us Garrus." He gives me a confused look. "It's an old human saying. Basically, I'm saying that I want to put whatever grudges we have against each other behind us."

Garrus narrows his gaze. "Do you really think that it's as simple as that?"

"Fuck no. I'm not naive." I'm slightly insulted by him thinking that. "I'm just saying that we should at least try to be civil with one another. The mission is too important for our personally grudges to get in the way. Surely your time in the military has taught you that?"

Garrus looks off to the side. He turns back to me a moment later. "Alright Carter, we'll try it your way. But don't think for a moment that this makes us friends in anyway. As far as I'm still concerned your a criminal that got off too easily."

I can't help but chuckle at his statement. "When have I ever said that I disagreed? I'll eventually have to pay for my actions, and when that day comes, I intend to pay for them in full."

My response catches him off guard. "That's...not what I expected to hear from you."

"Feel free to stop by the next time you're free. We'll have a drink." Pushing off from the Mako I head off to explore the rest of the Normandy, only stopping to grab my energy pistol.

My talk with Garrus had gone much better than I expected. While we may not be friends, it's a decent start.

* * *

My plans to explore the Normandy are put on hold though when, while walking on the crew quarters, I ran into a certain doctor.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to be Alexander Carter?" Dr. Chakwas asked as I passed by the medical bay.

"Yes, and you are?" I of course know who she is. Karin is one of my favorite characters from the game, but again I need to play ignorance.

"I'm Karin Chakwas, the human Doctor on this vessel. I was just going over the crew's medical records when I noticed that we didn't have yours. If you have the time, I would like to give you an examination." She says politely.

This gives me pause. I know for a fact that Argent is running through my system and that there's a chance it can be picked up by medical equipment. That risk should be enough for me to say know, but it would only hinder my position on the Normandy if I decline. Not to mention that it would make me seem like I'm hiding something.

"It has been awhile since my last check up." I say giving her a nod. "I'll come by once I've finished familiarizing myself with the ship."

"Thank you Mr. Carter."

"Please it's just Alex. It was nice meeting you Dr. Hopefully you won't be seeing me in the med bay too often." Giving a small smile I continued on my way.

I draw many stares from the crew, mostly from the female side, as I moved throughout the Normandy. The ship itself is much bigger in really life than it's made out to be in the game and it takes me a little over an hour and a half to explore the entirety of it.

Surprisingly I don't encounter the commander.

The last area I go to is the bridge and I head there last for a reason. It is where the best in this universe resides after all.

"Looks like someone has been eating their vegetables." Spinning around in his chair Joker looks me over. "I'm mean, I've seen some big guys before but you take the cake."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Alex Carter." I say holding out my hand.

"Jeff Moreau but everyone just calls me Joker. I'd shake your hand, but I think you would accidentally break it. Can you put on a real shirt please? You're making me feel insignificant."

"What, and hide these from the world." I say jokingly and flex my muscles for added emphasis. "That would be a crime."

Joker sighs dramatically. "Looks like my chances with the ladies just became nonexistent."

"Now don't be like that. Charming guy like yourself, I bet the ladies come running."

"I wouldn't encourage him Alex, " Looking back I see Jane walking towards us to cockpit. "He's got a big enough ego as it is. No need to make it bigger."

"Me? A big ego? No." Joker shakes his head. "You must have me confused with someone else."

The three of us share a laugh.

It reassuring to know that Joker is basically the same.

"So what brings you up here Jane?" I asks, "Surely it isn't just to chat with us lowly crew mates."

She shakes her head. "Unfortunately no. Joker, I need you to set a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster."

Joker snaps a quick salute, "Aye aye Captain."

"What are we going there for? A lead on Saren?" Man, I hate having to act like I don't already know what is going to happen. It be a really fucked up feeling.

"Benezia's only daughter was last heard of to be located there on an archaeological expedition." She explains, "We're going to find her a question her on her mother's whereabouts."

Nodding I start walking away, sending them a wave over my shoulder. "If that's all, I'll head back down to the cargo hold. It was nice meeting you Joker. Next time we've got shore leave I'll buy you a drink."

* * *

 **3rd person POV**

Jane and Joker both stared at the retreating form of Alex until he was out of sight.

"What do you think of him?"

Joker shrugs, "He seems like a good guy. Though the eye thing he's got going on was freaking me out a bit."

Jane looks at her friend in confusion. What's he talking about? "Eye thing?"

"You didn't notice it?"

She rolls her eyes, "I wouldn't be asking you if I did."

"Right." He says turning back to the controls. "His right eye had a slight yellow glow around the edges. It's so faint that I thought it was just a figment of my imagination at first, but then his left eye started doing it as well."

'Yellow glow?' Jane thinks while looking in the direction Alex had gone. 'I'll have to ask Karin about it the next time I see her.'

* * *

Later that night, Alex was once again in the slow moving elevator. Only this time he was going to the crew quarters to get some grub. Hopefully the rumors about military food prove false.

He was sorely disappointed when he received his dinner from the ships chef. 'Maybe it doesn't taste as bad as it looks.' He thought hopefully.

Alex was ready to head back to his little slice of the ship to eat when he spotted the others sitting at the table in the center of the deck.

"Alex! Over here!" Tali waves him over, motioning for him to sit in the empty seat beside her.

Shrugging Alex moves towards them and takes a seat. "What's going on?"

"Not much," Kaidan says, "Just giving our thoughts about the mission."

"So the usually BS." Taking a bite of his food Alex makes a gagging sound, making the others laugh.

"First time having military grade food?" Jane asks, eating her food without problems.

"That," Alex jabs a fork at the monstrosity sitting on his plate, "Is not food. That is something that you would use to poison your enemies!"

"You'll get use to it." Ashley says adding her two cents.

"Is it really that bad?" Tali asks. Kaidan nods subtly to her.

Alex looks at the slop on his plate and sighs. Taking another bit he forces it down. 'I'm really going to miss my cooking.' He makes a mental not to pick up some food the next time they return to the Citadel.

"So," Jane says looking everyone over. "We've got a pretty divers group here. Anyone got any good stories?"

There's a silence as everyone looks at each other expectantly. Garrus is the one to break it.

"What I want to know." He asks looking at Alex, "Is how you knew Tali before yesterday."

Alex glances over at Tali and asks, "We met on a ship."

"That's it?" Garrus didn't look convinced. "You met on a ship."

"A slaver ship." Alex says shutting him up. "I woke to find myself in cage on a Batarian slaving ship." He sees Janes hands curl up into a fist but continues anyway. "After breaking out of my cell, I "disabled" the guard and freed the other captured people on board. Moving throughout the ship, I found Tali being forced to fix their engines. After helping her out we proceeded to clear the rest of the ship. That, Garrus, is it."

The table fell into an awkward silence.

"It must have been hell for you two." Ashley marks offhandedly.

She finds herself on the receiving end of Alex's piercing glare. "You know nothing of hell, Williams. What happened on that ship was fucking paradise compared to what I went through before I woke there." The sheer level of venom in his words stuns them. "I'll see you guys later." Alex grabs his food and disposes of it in the nearest trash collector. "It would seem that I've lost my appetite."

The rest of the crew watched as he left for the elevator.

"Looks like he didn't want to remember it." Wrex says before shoveling more food into his gaping maw.

Jane looked to Tali for answers. "What exactly happened on that ship?"

"I'm not sure how Alex was captured but like he said, I met him after he saved me." Tali struggled to find the right words to describe what she witnessed a year ago, "I only killed two of the slavers. He got the rest. When he fought though...it was a slaughter. He didn't even have shields at the time, mass accelerators just bounced harmlessly off of his armor. I saw him rip two batarians to pieces with his bare hands. Others were torn apart by his guns, and he sent the rest out of the air lock."

Silence once again reigned as Jane and the others processed what Tali told them. "What happened afterwords?"

"He just sat down and didn't move for several hours. After that though he seemed to be oddly cheerful. We sent out a distress beacon and waited with the rest of the former captives."

Jane looked towards the elevator. Just who is Alexander Carter?

* * *

 **Alex's POV**

After my abrupt leave from dinner I returned to the lower part of the ship, Ashley's words replaying in his head. 'Must have been hell. The fucking nerve of that racist bitch! I should go back up there and show her what hell fucking feels like by introducing her to the business end of my chainsaw!'

Seeing the dark turn that my thoughts were taking, I stop walking and took a deep breath. Stop it Alex. Ashley has know idea of what I've been through. None of them do.

Man I feel exhausted.

'VEGA.'

 _'Yes Alex?'_

'I'm going to retire for the night. If I don't get up in twelve hours, wake me.' I don't wait for a response as I drop onto the floor behind the workbench and fell asleep.


	9. Saving the good Doctor

**Zocker119: Hey everybody. Sorry this chapter took so long to come out, but for once I actually have a good reason for it. You see, I my first day of college was October fourth. Between classes and my work schedule, I get about 48 hours throughout the week to do anything not work/school related and I need to balance that time between spending time with friends/family, gaming and of course, Fanfiction. So with that in mind please understand if the time between uploads is longer than normal.**

 **Anyway I also want to address some things story wise. I have been getting a lot, and I mean a lot, of review about one specific thing. Why am I putting Alex with Miranda and not Shepard? Besides the funny reason from, I believe the end of chapter two, I like Miranda as a character. Sure when you first meet her she's a controlling, ice queen bitch with a superiority complex, but then you get to know her. Very slowly but surely, the ice begins to melt and chip away, revealing caring and, somewhat, insecure woman beneath and that's the kind of character development that I love.**

 **But, I'm not made of stone and do want to please you readers as much as possible. SO! I have created a poll that is posted on my page to decide whether Alex get both Miranda and Jane, or just Miranda.**

 **Well with that in mind let's get to the chapter!**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

 **An Imp screeched in rage as its fellow demonic brethren were torn to pieces. Rushing at the one responsible it prepared to throw a fire ball, only for a shotgun shell to knock it back.**

 **Grabbing the stunned demon by it jaw I pull. It's jaw tears off and I leave it gurgling on the floor to die as its life essence flows into me, healing most of my wounds. I move through to the next room and find a gore nest sitting in the middle of it.**

 **Approaching it I punch the side and rip out its still beating heart, destroying it and summoning demons into the room.**

 **Swapping to my HAR I unleash a steady stream of hot lead onto the possessed horde. One soldier, getting too close for comfort, is forced onto one knee from my constant fire. Charging towards it, I kick it to the floor, break its leg, and crush its skull with its own foot.**

 **With the chainsaw in hand I spin around and slice another in two. It brings its arm up to block the my weapon, but it proves little use as it only stalls my chainsaws advance for a fraction of a second.**

 **I switch to the super shotgun and blast both shells into a group of possessed, turning them into a pasty mist.**

 **The roar of a Hell Knight catches my attention. I turn around just in time for one to slam into me, carrying me like a football player for several feet before throwing me into a wall. Getting to my feet I glare at the demon. With red forming on the edges of my vision I roar at the beast.**

 **It returns my roar with one of its own and charges me. Its advance is ended by my fist colliding with the side of its head, snapping its neck. Not finished I grab the side of its face and pull, taking its head, neck muscles and spine with it.**

 **Throwing the head to the side, I grab my gun and observe the room, finding it covered with the blood of my enemies.**

 **Not caring at the blood and destruction I move on to my next objective. I still have a few more of these things left to destroy before I can move on.**

* * *

The sound of people moving about reach my ears as my eyes open. I look around for a second, confused before it all comes back to me.

"I'm not in hell or on Mars," I say quietly. "I'm on board the Normandy, helping Shepard take down Saren."

Getting up I feel that my back is stiff from sleeping on the floor. I really should remember to grab a sleeping mat later otherwise my nights here are going to suck. Looking around some more I see that the others are already up and moving about.

'Looks like I also need to start setting an alarm.'

Filing that thought away I grab some clothes, ride the elevator to the crew deck and head for the showers.

Turning the water on full blast I let the hot water run down my body. My dreams are becoming more and more frequent. Had my time in DOOM done more than just give me the abilities and tools to survive in this universe? The answer to that question is obvious now.

'Should I go and talk to the doc about these dreams?' Stepping out of the shower, I dry myself off and throw on clothes identical to what I had on yesterday. I didn't make it ten feet before somebody calls out.

"Alex!" Turning to my right I see the commander walking towards me.

"Jane. You need something?" It wasn't until the words left my mouth that I realized that I had said was almost exactly the same way Garrus greeted Shepard when ever he/she went to go and talk to him.

"We're coming up on Knossos. I need you and everyone ready and waiting by the Mako in thirty minutes."

I raise a brow. I'm not too surprised that she would bring more than just two members with her, but I can't help but wonder. "Will that thing even be able to fit us all inside it?"

"We'll make room."

* * *

Sure enough, roughly thirty minutes later all of us were in our combat gear and situated in the armored vehicle and waiting for us to get close enough to the planet for the drop. It was a tight fit but we somehow managed to do it.

Much to the commanders disappointment, I managed to snag the driver seat while she rode shotgun. Wrex was up on the turret controls cause no one was going to fight a Krogan battlemaster for the spot, so everyone else was stuck sitting in the back.

"Do you even know how to drive one of these?" Jane asks not trying to pout.

"Did you think I would be driving if I didn't?" I ask looking at her.

She sighs in defeat, "No, I guess you wouldn't."

Little did she know that I had VEGA pull up some tutorial videos and am currently watching them vial my helmet visor. What? I can drive stick just fine so this should be a piece of cake.

"We're close enough for the drop Commander." Joker spoke through the coms, "Opening the cargo bay doors now and a word of advice, avoid the lava."

I chuckle at his words. 'Here goes nothing.' Once the doors are fully open I floor the accelerator and send use barreling into the air. We experience zero-g for several second before I hit the thrust jets, slowing our decent and hit the ground planetside with heavy jerk.

"Everyone Ok back there?" I get a collective of groans in response, "I'll take that as a yes."

Other than trying to avoid the streams of lava the drive to the ruins is largely uneventful. The Mako is much easier to drive than I though it would and not the nightmare the first game always made it.

Jane turns around and looks up at the turret controls. "You seeing anything Wrex?"

"Not yet." He says disappointingly. He really wants to use this big gun on something. "Just more rocks and lava."

"How about some tunes to liven the mood." I don't wait for anyone's response and activate my omni tool and play some rock music.

 **Insert BYOB by System of the Down**

Keeping my eyes on the path, I lightly bob my head and drum my fingers to the beat of the song.

"Spirits what are we listening to?" Garrus asks having never heard this kind of music before.

"This my scaly comrade is what we humans call Rock music." I say glancing back at him. "Not that techno whatever it is shit you hear in clubs now and days."

Jane glances over at me and asks. "Is this some new group?"

"Ha!" I laugh at Jane's question. "Hell no! This is System of the Down. They've been dead for well over a hundred years."

"And you listen to this group often? Even though they're songs are so old." Tali says getting into the conversation.

Jane crosses her arms and leans back in her seat, "I never pegged you for a classic rock kind of guy."

"Let me tell you something my old-man told me." I say as I drive us over a narrow land bridge over a river of lava. Was this drive always this long? "There is no such thing as classic or new rock. That's because what was considered rock for his generation will be classic for the next and rock for that generation will be classic for the one after that and so on and so forth. Thus, regardless of how old the song is, it was rock for somebodies generation."

Jane develops a thoughtful look. "That's...one way to look at it."

"Hate to interrupt your conversation about musical culture," Wrex calls down from his spot sounding eager, "But we got Geth!"

Turning my attention bat to the viewing screen I see that he's right. At least a dozen Geth rocket troopers could be seen a few hundred meters ahead of us as well as three Armature's.

The Geth must have spotted us. How do I know this? The rockets and pulse blasts heading straight for us are a pretty big hint.

"FUCK!" Jerking the wheel to the right I manage to avoid the deadly projectiles. "Wrex! Light those bastards up!"

The sound of the tanks weapons going off greet my ears. "Already on it!" He shouts in glee as he continues to unleash a hail of machine gun and cannon fire into the Geth.

The ones that aren't killed by Wrex meet their doom(pun intended) by me running them down with the armored tank.

"GTA MOTHER FUCKER!" I shout as I send a Armature sprawling into nearby lava stream after sideswiping it with the rear end of the Vehicle. "50 POINTS!"

"Where the hell did you learn to drive?!" Ashley yells, holding her safety harness a little tighter.

"Not important!" I say running down a rocket troop. A siege pulse slams into the Mako's side nearly knocking us over. Growling I hit the throttle, spin the tank around and ram the offending Armature. As it rolls over Wrex pelts it's exposed underbelly with a barrage of turret fire.

"We don't have time for this! Alex get us out of here!" Orders Jane.

Flooring it I run over any unfortunate Geth that happen to get in my way. We didn't make it 100 meters before Wrex calls out.

"Incoming!"

His warning came too late though as a massive siege pulse impacts right next to the Mako. The force of the blast causes me to loose control for a split second. That was all it took.

Another pulse hits the back to the Mako, causing the whole vehicle to flip forward, going end over end for several meters before slamming into a nearby cliff side.

* * *

 **3rd person POV**

Jane groans as she comes to, finding herself hanging upside down in her seat and her head in pain. Touching her forehead she pulls her hand back to find it covered in blood. "S-sound off."

"A little banged up but I'm good back here Shepard." Kaidan responds with a slight groan. "Ash is out cold though. Her harness broke and her heads bleeding pretty bad."

Unbuckling her harness Jane falls to the floor with a painful smack. Looking to the seat where Alex sat she found it empty. Getting to her feet she moves to the back, "Where's Alex and the others?"

"We're out here Jane." Alex calls from outside.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in her skull Jane unfolds her rifle and exits the Mako through the newly made hole in the back where she found Alex, Wrex, Garrus and Tali. All were taking cover behind the overturned Mako, popping out every few second to take pot shots at the approaching Geth.

"What's the situation?" Jane asks ash she falls in beside them.

"The Mako's fucked." Alex leans out and fires his HAR tearing a Geth trooper in half. "The Colossus made sure of that." His mind racing at the enemy before him. It may have been a while since he played the games, but he knows that a Colossus never showed up during this mission.

Looking over their cover She sees what he's talking about. What looks like a massive Armature slowly stalked towards them, constantly firing its machine guns to keep them in cover, while it's smaller brethren close in for the kill.

Wrex lifts a trooper with his biotics and manages to blow it apart with his shotgun before being forced back into cover.

"Tali!" Said Quarian looks at her. "I'm open to ideas."

"All scenarios I can think of involve heavy weapons, armor and air support."

'Shit!' Jane thinks. "The Mako's out and we have no heavy weapons and I doubted that the Colossus will let us get close enough to use grenades."

She was in the middle of trying to come up with another solution when Alex speaks up.

"I got something that'll work." They all look at him in confusion. Alex sighs quietly to himself. He had wanted to wait until later before using it but there's no other option. "I'll explain what your about to see later, but trust me on this."

Before anyone could ask what he meant his HAR disappears in a low flash of light and a new one takes its place. This new weapon is massive, with a glowing green cylinder in the center of it. That is the only way Jane can describe the weapon.

Alex, regardless of heavy fire from the opposition, walks out from behind the Mako and aims the barrel at the approaching Colossus and pulls the trigger. The BFG9000 discharges a large green ball of condensed plasma that closes the distance between it and it's target in seconds, all while arcs of energy at nearby Geth that causes their fluids to flash heat, evaporate and expand, resulting in the Geth exploding.

The Colossus doesn't stand a chance as the plasma hits it's chest dead center and is enveloped in an explosion.

Letting the BFG9000 fall to his waist Alex check his ammo count and curses. There are only two shots left. As much as he loves this gun, it'll have to be put on the back burner until he finds a way to replicate ammo.

Bringing out his Combat Shotgun and turns back to the others to find them staring at him mouths gaping.

"What the hell was that!?" Jane asks once she breaks out of her shock. Alex goes to speak but stops him by raising her hand. "You know what, we don't have time for this. We've still got to go and retrieve T'soni. I'm dropping this for now but I expect a full explanation once we get off of this planet." She says giving him a look that left no room for argument.

* * *

It took Ash a few minutes to wake up. She was suffering from a concussion so Jane ordered her to keep near the back of the group and keep her out of the line of fire.

As they approached the entrance a Geth drop ship few over head, dropping more shock, rocket troopers, Armature's and a new variation called Hoppers.

A firefight quickly ensues.

As Jane and the others dove for cover, she see Alex charge head first into oncoming fire. "Alex! Get to cover!"

Her order falls on deaf ears as Alex finds himself falling back into his normal routine.

Firing an explosive shot into the wave of Geth, he gets a direct impact. The secondary charges activate, catching those nearby and reducing them to scrap metal.

Alex shoulder rams another to the ground and stomps on its head. Swapping the barrel for the burst mod, the dots on the side light up and he unloads three shells into a trooper.

Spotting a hopper heading at him from the corner of his vision, he waits until the last moment before facing it chainsaw revving in his hands, awaiting its next victim. The hoppers metal frame does little to protect it from the rapidly spinning chain, its mechanical innards spilling out over him as it's sliced in two.

Another hopper tackles him to the ground from behind. It slashes at his back only for its claws to grind harmlessly off of the hell forged armor. As it tried to process why the human beneath it wasn't dead Alex's elbow smashes into glowing eye, cracking it.

knocking it off of his back Alex grabs it by its flashlight head, rips it off and throws it at another one.

Alex leans to the side as siege pulse passes harmlessly by. Running at the Armature that just tried killing him, he double jumps over it, switching to the super shotgun while in the air and lands on its back. He fires both barrels into its back, tearing a hole in its armor.

Reaching into the freshly made hole he reaches and grabs its power core. Ignoring the electrical surge he rips it out and tosses it to the side.

The light in its head fades out and the Armature collapses.

Glancing down at his work and reloading his gun Alex fails to see the rocket trooper lining up it shot. Its head is reduced to a smoldering mess as a mass accelerator tears through it.

Alex looks to see Garrus crouching behind cover, his sniper smoking.

"Scoped and dropped."

"...You should trade mark that."

Garrus just shrugs and goes back to shooting.

* * *

 **Alex's POV**

It only takes a few minutes for the rest of the Geth are laying on the ground in various states of destruction.

Once we were done I turn see the Commander stalking towards me.

And she looks pissed.

"What the hell was that!?" She asks heatedly.

"You're gonna have to be a little bit more specific than that Jane."

Her glare intensifies, "I'm talking about you charging in head first and ignoring orders."

"It's the way I operate." Switching back to combat shotgun, the burst still equip, and I give her my full attention. "Shock and awe is a powerful weapon Jane. It may not work on the Geth due to them being machines, but I did draw all of their attention towards me and away from the rest of you. With them focusing me, it left them open for you all to take them out."

"That's really reckless Alex. One mistake and you could've been seriously injured or have been killed."

"I'm well aware of that Jane, but it's just the way that I fight." After my time in hell and on mars, the way I fight is instinctual. It's not something that I can just change with the flip of a dime. Even if Shepard is the one asking. "Never had the benefit of others watching my back while I was fighting through hell."

Feeling a hand on my shoulder I turn and see that it's the commander. Her glare isn't completely gone but its soften quite a bit. "I get it Alex, really I do. I've had to fight on my own before. But you're part of a squad now. We work as a team, cover each others weaknesses and watch over one another. Your aren't alone anymore."

I ponder her words for a moment. "Even so Jane, this is how I fight and I don't plan on changing it."

She sighs at my words, "At least try and give me fare warning next time. I don't care if you can pull a big fucking gun out of your ass, you can't handle everything."

I chuckle at her choice of words. If only she knew what I've been through. "It's called the BFG9000, and I don't pull it out of my ass...I pull it out of a dimensional backpack."

"...I-"

"Expect a full explanation later, I get it." Shouldering my weapon I start making my way into the ruins. Jane falls into line beside me, the rest following shortly behind us.

Everything inside was relatively the same as the game. There were a couple of Geth that tried to stop us, didn't work, and we had to get in a few elevators to reach the ruins. The rides were a little cramped with all of us squeezing in but it wasn't all that bad.

The second elevator shudders and stops a few stories above our intended destination.

"Looks like this is our stop." Jane remarks.

Stepping forward I grip the edges of the door and start to force it open. Whatever mechanism in the elevator that tries to keep it close brakes under the strain and I throw the doors open.

Exiting the elevator we move along the catwalk, keeping our eyes peeled for any enemies. The catwalk ahead is broken and we're left with no other option other than dropping down to the next level.

"Hello? Is somebody there? Can you please help me?"

Taking a few steps the the side I turn and see our objective suspended in some kind of energy field.

Jane steps forward, "I'm Commander Shepard. I was sent to extract Dr. T'soni. I presume that you're her."

"Yes that's me." Liara says with a sigh of relief. "Please you have to help me. This is a Prothean Barrier Curtain. I activated it knowing that it would keep me safe from the Geth, but I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to. I'm trapped in here." She admits with an embarrassed blush.

"It shouldn't be that difficult to turn off." Garrus begins looking around. "Must be some kind of switch somewhere."

Jane holds up her hand. "Hold on. Before we get you out we have to know who's side you're on."

Liara looks at them in confusion. "Side? I'm afraid that I don't understand what you mean."

"Your mother is working with a Spectre turned traitor Saren. How do we know that your aren't as well?"

"Does that really matter?" I spoke voicing my thoughts, "Regardless of who she's with, we're still going to be getting her out of here. The only difference will be whether or not she's in cuffs."

"I'd rather know now then latter." Jane states giving me a look that said to keep quiet.

Shrugging I lean up against the barrier and let Shepard do her thing.

"My mother? I haven't spoken to her in years. I may be Benezia's daughter but I'm nothing like her. I'll cooperate with you but please just get me out of here." Liara says. Taking a closer look at her I notice that she seems a bit pale and has bags under her eyes. Just how long has she been stuck in there?

Jane stares at Liara for a moment longer and nods. "Alright We'll get you out. We just got to find a way past this barrier."

"That's the tricky part." Liara looks behind her. "It can't be shut off from out there and the switch is over here."

Seeing how this conversation was going I start making my way down towards the lower level. Shotgun pumped and ready I'm surprised to see that there are no Geth waiting for me below. Approaching the mining laser I notice a big red button. Underneath it is a warning label.

"Warning. Make sure area is clear before operating mining laser." I read out loud. Looking back to where Jane and the others were I see that they're still talking with Liara. "Fuck it!"

I smash the button and a lance of red energy fires from the mining tool and into the ground in front of it. Once the dust clears and a path to the other chamber is revealed.

"Alex!" Looking up I see the others running down the ramp. "The hell just happened."

"Couldn't find the door to the next room. So, I decided to make my own." I say casually walking through the hole in the floor.

"And we just had a conversation about fore warning." Jane responds dryly, earning a shrug from me.

Thankfully the path still led to yet another elevator. I'm beginning to think that the Prothean's just stopped using stairs at one point.

"You got in!" Liara looks both shocked and happy that we managed to get through. "How were you able to get around the barrier."

"I used a giant ass laser to blow a hole in the floor." I told her as bluntly as possible. "...It was pretty fucking cool." I add while hitting the button that releases her.

Liara lets out a cute sounding yelp as she suddenly falls onto her rear. "T-thank you." I shoot her a thumbs up only for her to look at me in confusion.

Oh right. She hasn't spent that much time around humans before.

Jane speaks up. "So how do we get out of here? The way we took isn't an option."

"The elevator you just took should be able to take us back to the upper levels." Liara walks past us and starts typing commands into the consul. "I don't understand what this is all about. Why would Saren be coming after me?"

"Saren is looking for some Prothean device called the conduit." Tali explains. "With you being a Prothean expert, he probably though you would be his best bet at finding it."

"The conduit? But I do-" Liara is cut off as the whole area begins to shake.

"Uhmm, what was that?" Wrex asks.

"The ruins are no longer stable. The mining laser must have triggered a seismic event."

Jane and the rest of the squad all turned and looked at me.

"...I'm not apologizing."

The commander just shakes her head and puts a finger to her ear. "Joker! Get the Normandy in the air at my position pronto! Alex fucked up!"

"I did nothing wrong!"

 _"Roger that Commander. ETA 8 minutes."_

Guarrus looks around at the walls with caution. "That might not be quick enough."

"If I die here, I'll kill him." Wrex growls.

The elevator starts moving and we're on our way back to the surface. Thankfully this one is much faster than the one on the Normandy and Citadel and quickly ascends. We're at the top floor within a minute.

As the elevator comes to a halt we all stop as we see a Krogan and several Geth troopers standing between us and the exit.

"Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun." The Krogan orders, grinning at the thought of getting into a firefight.

"I don't know if you noticed or not, but this place is getting ready to collapse on top of us!" Jane says as she gets ready to go for her weapon.

"Exhilarating, isn't it." The battlemaster responds, his grin turning down right feral. "Hand over the doctor."

Jane shares a look with Liara and nods. Turning back to the Krogan she says. "It think she's doing just fine with us."

"Kill them," The Krogan shouts to the Geth. "Spare the Asari if you can."

The non-organics follow his orders without question and open fire.

Grabbing Liara I drag her behind cover while the others return fire.

"Alex, keep the Doctor safe!" For once I follow her orders without question.

"Stick close to me and keep your head down!" After getting a nod from the un-armored maiden, I stand up and fire a burst shot from my shotgun into the chest of the closest Geth.

I'm suddenly thrown off of my feet and slammed into the wall. Falling to the floor I look up to see the battlemaster charging at me, a purple glow surrounding him.

"I AM KROGAN!"

Having face demons and other monstrous creatures before, I do the only logical thing. I get to my feet and charge right back.

A thunderous crash is heard as the two of us collide. The Krogans grin falters slightly when he notices that I managed to completely stopped his forward momentum. Him weighing somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 pounds, it shouldn't have been possible for me to do what I just did.

He swings at me with a biotic enhanced punch which is caught by my open hand. Yanking him forward I head but him, the argent in my body enhancing the power of the hit.

But it does little to the aliens armored skull, and he responds with a punch to my stomach. Tanking the hit I land a sucker punch of my own to his side.

With a roar of rage, the battlemaster is enveloped in a purple glow once again and tackles me. Digging my feet into the floor I rain elbows onto his unguarded back in and attempt to stop him, but the pain doesn't seem to bother him. Roaring once again he slams me into the wall, enticing a grunt form me.

He then grabs me chest piece and pulls me into a headbutt.

My helmet holds but my skull is ringing a bit. Growling I see red form around the edges of my vision. Wit renewed strength, I knee him in the stomach and manage t put some space in between us. Rushing forward I let loose a powerful kick to knee. I am rewarded with the sound of bones breaking.

Bending over to hold his knee in pain, the Krogan leaves himself wide open for a hammer strike to the back of the head, sending him face first into the floor.

Kicking him onto his back, I grab his arm tightly and, with the sickening sound of tearing flesh, yank it out of its socket. The battle master doesn't even get a chance to scream as I bring his severed arm down on his skull again, and again, and again until his head finally caves inward.

Breathing heavily, not out of exhaustion but from the argent still pumping, I drop the now broken and battered. Turning around I find that the Geth have all been taken care of and the commander, along with the rest of the group, staring at my bloodied form with different expressions.

Jane, Ashley, Kaidan and Garrus all look at me with mixtures of shock and disgust. Liara seems ready to throw up at any given moment. Wrex is unreadable and even though Tali has seen me do similar, I'm pretty sure her face is close to Janes.

Without saying a word I pick up my discarded weapon and head for the exit. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

As I finish my sentence the place starts to shake again, only this time it's much more violent. This seems to snap the others form their shocked state.

"Move!" Jane orders, making a break for the exit. Not needing to be told twice the rest run as fast as their legs could carry them.

Let me tell you something. Running through a cave, while said cave is falling apart around you, is, not, fucking, easy. Narrowly avoiding rocks I manage to reach the exit tube first.

Turning around I find the others trailing not to far behind me. Wrex is in the front, followed by Garrus, Jane, Kaidan, Ashley and Tali with Liara a few steps behind.

"Go go go! Get those asses moving!" I shout waving them over. They're all almost there when disaster strikes. The wall suddenly explodes sending pieces of rock everywhere. One manages to hit Liara in the back of the head and she collapses to the floor unmoving.

'Shit!' Charging past the others I reach Liara. Carrying her princess style I sprint full speed back to and up the ramp. I'm about the fourth of the way there when I realize that we won't make it.

With that thought my vision suddenly goes yellow and I find myself moving three to for times faster than I was previously. Knowing that this was the effect of the haste powerup, I run with even greater determination.

With my new level of speed I clear the tunnel and reach the Normandy's doors in under fifteen second, almost running into Jane who had been waiting in the airlock for us.

"Mission accomplished Commander." I say handing her the unconscious Asari. I'm suddenlt hit with a wave of fatigue. Never before had I used the effects of two powerups in rapid succession before.

I see the Jan's lips moving but no words reach my ears as I fall to the floor and everything goes black.

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: eh? Not too bad right? As for Alex blacking out at the end there I did this for a good reason. In the game, the Doomslayer never uses powerups in rapid succession. This led me to thinking that he can only use them once every couple of hours or so. Again this is just what I felt was right. I'm most likely wrong, but fuck it! This is Fanfiction! I'm allowed to do what I want in my story.**

 **Please leave a review, and if you haven't already done so...please Fav and or follow.**


	10. BULLSHIT FOR ALL!

**Zrocker119: Merry early Christmas everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long for me to put out. I was suck on how to finish it for the last three weeks. It was pretty frustrating for me and I'm still not all that happy with the results, but it will due. I always struggle with chapters that fill the gaps between the bigger parts of my stories.**

 **Anyway shot AU at the end. Read it! It's important!**

 **P.s. One more thing. 607 favorites, 749 follower and 232 reviews! HOLY SHIT!(Jaw drops and brain explodes form the sheer awesomeness)**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

Jane sighs for what must have been the 100th time within the last two hours as she sat in one of the many chairs in the briefing room. She had just finished informing the council of what had transpired just a few hours earlier, omitting a few details. It was evident that they were not happy about the loss of the ruins. She couldn't care less about some ancient ruins. All she cared about at the moment was that her crew was alive and safe.

Well, most of them anyway.

After Alex had passed out in the air lock, he was moved down to the med-bay. It had taken both Garrus and Wrex to move him while Jane was able to take Liara. Once there it took the combined effort of them plus Tali to remove his armor. The individual pieces were surprisingly heavy. Jane thought that Wrex was just being over dramatic about their weight until she tried holding one of the gloves herself.

Once Alex was on a bed and hooked up, they were able to see just what was wrong. Almost all of the muscles in his body had been torn, there was a large bruise on his chest and back from his struggle with the battlemaster, and was suffering form a serious case of exhaustion. The last Jane had heard from Karin was that Alex is now stable but still unconscious.

Liara was in much better shape. Other than a slight headache from where the rock had hit she would be just fine. The newest member of the Normandy was currently being taken on a tour of the ship by a more than willing crewman.

Entering the mess hall Jane see the others sitting at a table and appeared to be in a heated discussion. Heading in their direction she picked up what it was they are talking about.

"-m telling you there's no way what he did back there was humanly possible!" Ash all but yelled at Garrus.

"I'm not disagreeing with you." Was the Turians irritated reply. "But we've all seen what he looks like. He's obviously human. That armor he wears must be the reason why he was able to rip that Krogan's arm off. Right Tali?"

The mentioned Quarian rubs her hands nervously. "I can't say for sure. I did a quick scan the pieces of the earlier but I didn't get much. It was like something was interfering with my omni tool. But from what I was able to get the suit seems to have some mechanical functions. I found small receptors on the gloves and chest plate, as well as some capillary tubes that run throughout the suits substructure but I couldn't figure out what they were for. But that's not the most interesting part."

"Well don't keep us in suspense Tali?" They all jump at the sound of Jane's voice, well all but Wrex that is. It will take more to surprise the battle hardened Krogan. The others though had been so into the conversation that none of them had noticed her approaching. "What other surprises does that suit hold."

"What ever it's made of doesn't match anything know material in the galaxy." Tali says, silencing them all. "We all saw what kind of damage he sustained during the mission right?"

Kaiden decides to pitch in. "I saw him take a few hits from a Geth pulse rifle, a hopper tackled and clawed him, and then there was his scuffle with the battlemaster." He shivers a bit at the memory. He never heard a Krogan scream like that before. He had never heard a Krogan scream period.

Tali taps away on her omni tool and a 3D image of Alex's armor appears above her arm. "What ever his suit is made of is incredibly durable. I found no signs of damage, other than a few smudge marks."

"That's impossible." Garrus shakes his head in denial. "The metal should be bent or warped in some way. We saw him get thrown and charged by a biotically enhanced Krogan."

"We also saw him pull out a giant gun from nowhere that destroyed a Colossus as well as any nearby geth with a single shot of said gun." Jane's statement shuts up any argument the former C-sec had. She looks to Wrex, who up till now had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in silence. "You've been oddly quiet Wrex. Anything you want to add?"

The old Krogan closes his eyes in thought. "I've lived for a long time Shepard and have learned more than a few things...Did any of you take note of the way he fought?" His question caught them off guard. Wrex muttered "amateurs" under his breath when none of them answer.

"The way he fought was," Jane struggles to think of the right word that describes the way Alex fought. "Violent, savage...brutal." The words seemed to fit what he did, but at the same time, failed to completely encompass it.

Wrex smirks and give the commander a nod of acknowledgement. "You only fight like he does for one reason, to-"

"Strike fear into your enemies." Jane finished, remembering the words Alex spoke to her a few hours ago. But she still couldn't understand one thing. 'What made him fight like that?'

"Shepard!" Karin's voice snaps them all out of her thoughts. "You might want to come and look at what I found!" Hearing the urgency in the doctors voice made them all rush to the med-bay, where they found the doc standing next to Alex whilst looking over her omni tool.

"What is it Karin? Is there something wrong with Alex?" Jane asked worriedly. She may not have known Alex for more than a few days but he was now a member of her crew and she would be damned before she lost one.

"I'm not sure Commander." Was Dr. Chakwas response. "T-this is something I have never seen before." She tapped away furiously on her arm and made a projection of Alex's skeletal structure and nervous system. Everyone's eyes widened in shock, seeing what had the doctor worried. Very dark, orangish-red coloration can be seen moving throughout Alex's body.

"What the hell is that!?" Garrus asks after breaking out of his shock.

"I don't know. I though it was a glitch in the system so I redid my initial scan but nothing changed." She tapped her omni tool a few more times. "Not only that, but all of his wounds have seemingly healed as well. My scans also revealed that almost every bone in his body has been broken multiple times within the last year or so and, if his latest injuries are anything to go by, were healed just as fast."

"My god." Ash whispered not so quietly. "How is he still alive? Is he even human?"

Even though she had seen Alex outside of his armor many times Jane was starting to question his race as well. She glanced over at Alex's prone-, formerly prone form. He now sat on the edge of the the bed, looking at the floor and rubbing his head in pain.

The pain seems to subside and he looks up to find the whole ground team and the Dr. staring at him.

"...Uh, hey?"

* * *

 **-Alex's POV-**

As I looked at the team in confusion my eyes roamed around the room. 'Okay, I'm in the med-bay. They must have brought me here after I passed out. Gonna have to ask VEGA what that was all about later.' My musings ended once my eyes landed on the holo floating in front of them. I could tell that it was a medical chart, but what was with the orangish-red glow?

.

.

.

If this were an anime, I'm sure my eyes would've quadrupled in size a I realized what it was that they were looking at. It was a full body scan of me...and the Argent in my body was visible.

"Everyone else go back to your normal stations." I turn to see Jane staring straight into my eyes. "Alex and I need to have a little chat...now!" She didn't yell but the message was clear. I, and everyone else, didn't have a say in the matter.

One word could describe the amount of dread that I was feeling as everything came crashing down and that word is.

.

.

.

'FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!'

* * *

I stepped out of the storage room that now served as Liara's sleeping area, having gone in there to change out of the medical gown and into my everyday clothes. I also put VEGA'S ear piece back in so that I can talk to him. It had felt weird without his presence in the back of my head.

Back to the situation at hand, I looked at Jane with a tired gaze. I was already wishing that I was still out of it. I knew that I was going to have to explain to Jane the concept of storing my weapons in a pocket dimension but now I had to explain argent as well. So with no way out I lean against the wall, arms crossed and nod. "Alright then, let's get this over with. Where do you want me to start?"

"Well for starters, how do you feel?" I was caught off guard by the amount of worry in her gaze. "You just up and passed out after saving Liara, and then the scan showed that almost all of your muscles were torn."

"Damn." I've got to say that I wasn't expecting all of that. No wounder she's worried about me. "I'm fine Jane." I say with a shrug. "As you can see I heal pretty fast."

"Glad to hear it." She says with a small smile. One that is replaced with a firm scowl a few seconds later. "Now, explain how your even standing right now. Someone with your injuries should be hospitalized for several months, not up and moving about like nothing happened a few hours later."

I begin to rub my neck as I try and think of a way to explain things to her. I could tell her exactly what I told Miranda and TIM, but the truth will come out eventually. The part about me coming from DOOM mind you, not the whole "Your reality is a video game where I'm from", I plan on taking that with me to the grave.

"I'll try and explain it as best I can, but I need you to keep an open mind because what I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to believe. Can you promise me this?"

She eyes me for a moment before nodding. "I'll try but I won't promise anything."

'That's the best I'm going to be getting.' Pinching the bridge of my I let out a deep sigh. "It goes back a few years ago when I was abducted by a human supremacist group by the name of Hades. Like you they had discovered a Prothean beacon that warned them about the Reaper. They kept it under wraps and began researching was to stop them. During this time they discovered the ruins of unknown alien race, one that didn't utilize eezo." I hold up my hand to stop her from speaking. "Yes, that sounds impossible but trust me it's true."

"This race instead utilized an element that they called Argent to rip open portals and use them to go from one place to another." I demonstrate by summoning my energy pistol. "This is the same technology that allows me swap weapons at any given time. As well as the added bonus of never having to reload."

"How do you get mixed up in all of this?"

I sigh, "They, Hades, stumbled upon one of this races latest projects. One that involved bonding Argent to a host."

I could practically see the realization in her green eyes. "They-"

"Abducted me and many others, and forcefully bonded Argent to our bodies. Everything from my skeletal structure, veins and nervous system, Argent is currently coursing through it all." Bringing up my omni tool I show her the same video that I showed Miranda and TIM. "I was the only successful subject."

"They bonded this energy to you?" I nod, "What did it do?"

"You know that super human stuff you find in comics and movies? Basically that. I'm faster, stronger and as you can see, heal faster. After the bonding process was a success I was fitted with the Praetor suit and put in cryostasis. I was frozen for eight months before some dumb-ass decided to set off a fucking Argent bomb."

"A what?"

"A Argent Bomb is a explosive that when detonated, will unleash a wave of raw Argent energy. Those that are caught in the blast will either be killed, or mutate into a monster straight out of your fucking nightmare. One of the scientists tried sneaking one off base with the intent to sell it, but was caught and cornered. Rather than surrender the bastard set it off. 38% of the station was outright killed, while the rest became monsters."

"H-how many were in the facility?" Jane hesitantly asks.

"5,497." Her eyes widen. "3,408 of which were mutated. I would've died as well, but I was woken up by the only other survivor."

"Other survivor!? Some one else got off besides you!"

It is at this point that I find myself pinching the bridge of my nose. "I don't care if you tell the rest of the crew what I've already told you, but what I say next must stay between us."

Jane looks at me long and hard. Fuck I hope she just goes with it. If not then I may as well toss myself out the air lock. I let out the breath I had been holding when she eventually nods. "Awesome. Not do me a favor and don't freak out alright?"

"Why would I-"

Bringing up my omni tool once more I hit a button. "Say hello to the commander, VEGA."

 _"Hello, Commander Shepard."_ A image of VEGA appears from my arm. You know that symbol that always appears when ever he spoke in game? Yeah, that one. _"I am VEGA. The artificial intelligence tasked with checking daily operations at the Hades HQ."_

"AN AI!" Jane recoils, her hand going for the pistol at her side. When did that get there!?

"WOAH!" I say, hands held in front of me in a stopping gesture. "I know the killer AI stereotype is really in with the Geth attack and all but seriously calm, the fuck, down. If VEGA wanted to kill us, he could've done so many times over."

 _"For a galaxy that fears AI, your defenses against cyber-warfare are minimal at best."_ VEGA's image pulsates as he speaks. _"Even the Citadel couldn't detect me when I hacked in and created an identity for Alex."_

I mentally facepalm at VEGA's stoic statement. "Really VEGA? Now is not the time to talk about how shitty their cyber security is."

"Did it just say that it hacked into the Citadel?" Turning my attention back to the commander I see that her pistol is drawn and trained on me.

"Yes, HE did." I respond with added emphasis on the gender. "He did it so I can fit back in with society without trouble. Besides that I trust him."

"It's an AI!" Jane tries to look calm, but the hint of fear in her voice betrays her. "How can you trust it!?"

"I didn't at first. How can I trust something that my abductors created? But then I started thinking. He didn't have to wake me from cryo. He could've just left me there for all of eternity, but he didn't. He woke me up, armed me and helped me destroy the facility...by destroying himself."

Jane seems to pause at that. "What?"

 _"The only way to keep the infected from leaving the facility was to kill them all with a powerful enough explosion. The only way to do that was to initiate a meltdown of the facilities main reactor, my power core. But I can not self terminate, so I instructed Alex how to kill me. He did as I asked, but not before making a back up copy of my and storing me into his suit."_

"Of my own volition by the way." I add so she doesn't think VEGA asked me to save him. "VEGA was willing to give his life to ensure that Hades's fuck ups didn't make it back to civilization. If that doesn't gain your trust," I shrug, "Then I don't know what will."

I watch with baited breath as Jane thinks. After what felt like an eternity though, she finally lowers her weapon. "I must be crazy for going along with this."

A smirk tugs at the corner of my lips, "Jane, we're after a mad turian that may or may not be in league with a ancient race of giant killer machines...we threw away our sanity awhile ago."

Massaging her forehead she asks, "What happened after you initiated the meltdown?"

I shrug, "Stole a shuttle and got the fuck out of dodge. Passed out from exhaustion shortly afterwords, woke to find myself on a slaver ship and you know the rest."

"This-this is a whole lot to take in." A few moments of silence pass between us. "I need a drink."

A chuckle could be heard from within my throat. "I've got a bottle of whisky stashed down below. I was going to save it for after we beat Saren, but I'm willing to bust it out now if you want."

"...I just might take you up on that offer." She responds, a small twitch in the corner of her lip betraying her amusement. Nodding slightly she goes to leave while saying, "Karin wants to give you another check up before you leave."

"Jane," I call out, stopping her just at the door. "Please keep VEGA between us. The others will be cautious around me enough as it is. If they knew about him though." I trail off as we both know how the others will respond to an AI. Violently, especially Tali.

"I'll trust your judgment for now, but Alex," Her gaze bores into mine. "If it becomes a threat, I'll personally put it down."

"...I understand, but I know that it won't come to that."

She leaves the room. "I hope you're right."

* * *

It wasn't until half an hour later that I was finally able to leave the med-bay. Dr. Chakwas had put me through a few basic test to make sure that everything was working properly and took a few more scans. It was refreshing to see someone so dedicated to their work.

Once I was allowed to leave though I made a beeline for where the food was. For some reason I was famished, like I hadn't eaten for several days. So after grabbing a couple plate fulls of the shit the Alliance Navy called food I grabbed the nearest seat and dug in, regardless of taste. While doing so I could feel the wandering eyes of the crew on me.

No doubt word about my exploits during last mission have spread.

"Great." I grumble quietly. I knew the way I handled things would draw me attention but it didn't make it less annoying. I also notice that I couldn't see any of the other members of the ground team. More than likely Jane had gathered them all in the briefing room to inform them all of my "condition".

"Excuse me, but you're Alexander Carter correct?" Asks a quiet voice.

Looking up I'm greeted by the sight of Dr. Liara T'Soni. There's a small spot on the side of her head that's darker than the rest of her skin. Probably from the hit to the head she took earlier. "Yes that's me. Liara right? How's the head feeling?"

She look momentarily confused before her eyes widen in remembrance. "Oh I'm alright, nothing now but a slight headache."

"That's good to hear." I gesture for her to take a seat, "So what can I help you with?"

"I-I just wanted to thank you personally for saving my life."

"Think nothing of it little blue." I give her a small smile. "We had a job to get you off that planet safe and sound. Though it is nice to be thanked every once in a while."

"Uh," Liara tilt's her head in slight confusion.

"Something wrong?"

"Sorry, but did you just call me little blue?"

I nod, "I like giving nicknames to friends. Given that you're smaller than me and blue, little blue was the first thing that popped into my mind. Sorry if I offended you in anyway."

Raising her hands and shaking her head Liara says. "No, I'm not offended at all. No ones given me a nickname before...I don't even now what that means." Color floods her cheeks as the rest of my words register in her mind. "You consider me a friends?"

Seeing her look so flustered, I couldn't help but find her to be very cute. "Why the hell not?"

"Well." Her gaze shifts to the side, suddenly finding the wall more interesting. "I don't like talking about others when their not present-"

"The others are giving you shit for being Benezia's daughter aren't they?" I ask her bluntly. Silence is all that greets me. "I'm guessing that statements true, except for Jane and maybe Wrex." A slight nod is her response. "Looks like we're sort of in the same boat. That's just a old human saying by the way. Basically it means we're in the same situation." I add that last part quickly.

"How are we, as you say, "In the same boat"?"

"Remember what I did to that Krogan?" Now I don't know what color Asari turn when they're about to get sick, but she's changing shades. "I'll take that as a yes. I fight with that ferocity in every conflict that I'm involved it. I told the others this before I even took a single step on this ship. You saw me in the med-bay. I should be hospitalized for months, yet hear I am talking with you like nothing happened. We're unknowns to them Liara. People, regardless of race, are afraid of unknowns. I'm sorry but that's just how it is"

"T-that's one way to look at it." Liara agrees. In a very human guester she starts fiddling with her thumbs. "How are you awake? And how were you able to do "that" to a Krogan?"

"Jane's probably telling the others what I told her earlier so there's no harm in letting you know as well." Finishing off the rest of my food I cross my legs and rest my hands on the table. "Well a few years ago..."

* * *

 **-Meanwhile in the briefing room-**

"-and that's all of it." Jane says as she finally finishes relaying the same info that Alex had given her, omitting the parts about VEGA as per Alex's request, and oh boy did they look confused. Leaning back with her arms crossed she awaits for the up coming shit storm that will be their questions.

"And that's what he told you?" Looks like Garrus was the one to break the ice.

"Yes."

"And you believe him."

"Yep." This earns her some incredulous looks from some of her crew. Aka Garrus, Kaidan and Ashley. "His position on this ship is in jeopardy and he knows it. What would he gain from lying?"

"But what if he is commander?" Ash says trying to make her see reason. "For all we know he could've stolen that technology from the Alliance!"

"I'm gonna have to disagree with you there Ash." Kaidan says surprising her. "We're going after the councils top agent. If the Alliance had something like Alex's weapons and armor on standby...then we would've gotten it for this mission. Plus like the commander said, we all saw him summon those weapons out of nowhere not to mention the chart from Dr. Chakwas. No one has technology like his." Kaidan finds himself on the receiving end of Ash's gaze.

Jane's eyes shifts from between the two. She's glad that Kaidan was at least open to the idea of Alex being a genetically enhance human, but it would seem that Ashley wasn't even willing to consider the idea. First she objects to helping Liara with combat training and now this. She was going to have to pull her aside soon and have a chat with her about trusting others.

Speaking of trust issues, Jane couldn't help but think that Alex wasn't telling her the whole truth. Sure he told her about VEGA, she was still trying to figure out how a fully functional AI was in his omni tool, but the nagging voice in the back of he head was telling her that he was holding something back.

Regardless of if he is though Alex took a big risk by revealing VEGA to her. She was kind of touched that he trusted her with such a big secret.

Jane shook her head. She was getting off track. "It doesn't matter if his technology is his own or if he stole it, we'll just have to take his word for it. Now I don't want to see any confrontation between any of you. This extends to Alex and Liara as well," Though she doubted that Liara would be a problem, "Am I understood?"

"Yes commander." Were Kaidan and Ash immediate reply.

"Good. Now anymore questions?"

Tali was the one to speak up this time. "He said that this "Argent" made him what he is, while it turned others into monsters right?"

"That's correct. He should me a vid of one of the other subjects. "Jane actually shivers at the memory of it. "It wasn't a pretty sight."

"...Do we have to worry about it affecting us?" Wrex asks.

Jane frowns at that question. "He didn't mention anything about contaminating anything before. My best guess is that we would have to be exposed to a large amount of Argent in its raw state like he was. Besides if it was contagious, I think he wouldn't be living on the Citadel let alone any populated planet."

"So to recap," Wrex begins, "Alex is a super human, with highly destructive weapons, an insane healing factor that could rival a Krogan's and can tear his foes apart with his bare hands."

The others blink at his rather short and crude summery of what took Jane a hole hour to explain. "Basically." Is Jane response.

"...I knew there was a reason while I liked the bastard!" Wrex then proceeds to laugh in excitement for the future carnage that will surely follow them.

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: Now for what I was too lazy to right at the beginning. The poll for who Alex will be paired with is closed and the results...** **don't really surprise me. The winner is both Jane and Miranda! Now don't worry I won't just put the three of them in a room and have them go at it. I will put in the effort to make the relationship between them reasonable. I have some ideas in mind but I'm open to suggestions.**

 **Till next time folks!**


	11. I'll show you my guns

**Zrocker119: Heeeyyyy everyone. Yeah a lot has happened since I posted the last chapter that prevented me from getting this out sooner, but so full disclosure, the main reason being that I just wasn't in the mood for writing until about three weeks ago. Between me finally getting a PS4 and playing Bloodborne, Nioh and For Honor, yeah I haven't been writing that much.**

 **But I'm back and will be writing more often. I've decided to set aside two hours a day to nothing but working on my stories, my main focus being this one and the rewrite of my first story.**

 **Also, before I get the actual chapter I have something to say that will probably piss more than a few of you off. Last chapter I released the poll results of who Alex should end up with and that it was both Miranda and Jane. Well I got more than a few PM's from some dedicated supporters of this story that said that it was a bad idea and gave very, and I mean VERY good reasons at to why it was.**

 **After talking back and forth with them I decided that I'm going to stick with the original plan of pairing Alex with Miranda. Sorry for those that voted for both, but if your a true fan of this story then pairings shouldn't matter. But sense we're on the topic of pairings, now that Jane is off the table, who should she end up with? I'm thinking Garrus!**

 **Now on with the story!**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

It had been 36 hours since Liara had come aboard the Normandy, and about 32 hours since the crew learned about my "Origins". As expected many members of the crew became let's say...apprehensive whenever I happened to be within the same room as them. Of the ground crew though, only Garrus and Ashley treated me with some form distrust.

Garrus was more cautious than anything, but I chalked that up to us once sitting on opposite sides of an interrogation room.

Ash though...I'm not really sure what her problem is. She'd shoot me glares every so often when we were in the same room and tends to avoid me whenever possible. I don't really care though. Of the original crew she was always my least favorite character. Not for any specific reason though, I just found her to be boring. I'll straighten it out though sooner or later.

Turning my attention back to my current task I speak, "You load in the ammo block?"

"Yes."

"Alright then," Crossing my arms I gesture to the crate with a target painted on it that sat at the opposite end of the lower cargo hold. "Take aim and fire when ready."

Raising the assault rifle in her hands, Liara squeezes the trigger and sends a small burst of fire down the range. A few managed to hit the crate but most sailed harmlessly passed and impacted harmlessly against the wall.

"This is much harder than I thought." Liara says with a small sigh.

When it was brought up that Liara had little to no combat experience, Jane had asked if one of us was willing to show her the ropes. After a few moments of contemplating I volunteered. I didn't really have to think it over, but I didn't want everyone thinking that I was being too eager to teach the sexy, blue alien lady how to properly handle a firearm.

Chuckling a bit, I gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We still got a few hours until we arrive at Feros. I'll have you combat ready before then. Besides," Summoning my E-pistol(Energy pistol shorten) I fire multiple shots in rapid succession, each one either hitting the bulls-eye or close to it. "It takes time, patients and plenty of practice to become a good marksman."

"I guess I have a long way to go."

"Yes you do, my young padawan." I say, nodding sagely.

"A what?"

"...Fuck. Okay, after were done here I'm going to start teaching you about pre-space human culture."

The sound of the elevator doors opening catches mine and Liara's attention. From the opening came, Jane, Tali, Wrex and pretty much everyone else. "Alex, Liara," Jane greeted. "How's the training coming along?"

"Pretty good, Jane and co." Is my response. I was expecting Jane to come by some time soon, but it surprised me to see that the rest of the crew tagged along as well. "For someone that's only just started learning to shoot, Liara's a quick learner." Aw how cute! Liara is blushing at my praise. "As long as she takes her time and picks her targets, she should be good enough to come with us once our boots hit the ground."

Jane nodded in approval. "That's good to hear, but Liara's progress isn't the only reason why I gathered everyone down here." I raise a brow, which prompts her to continue. "Since your secret's out, I was going to ask that you show us just what you have stashed away in that backpack of yours."

I look a Jane for a moment. She has an excited and hungry look in her eyes. It was so subtle that it almost went unnoticed by me. Smirking I say, "If you just wanted to see my guns Jane, all you had to do was ask."

I walk to the side of the hold where a long line of crates sat. Before you ask, Liara and I were using them as a makeshift weapons bench during our training sessions. Putting all of the ME weapons away I will mine into existence. Several thunks are heard as the weapons used to slaughter the forces of hell itself landed in a neat row, from smallest to largest.

"Okay, let's start wi-"

"Is that a fucking Chainsaw!?" Kaidan shouted, pointing towards the scary looking piece of equipment.

"Why yes, yes it is. Didn't you see me use it during the last mission?" I asked, remembering the Geth that was unfortunate enough to meet its end by the weapons deadly teeth.

"I though the heat of the volcano was just making me see things." Admits the Sentinel.

"You weren't hallucinating. That thing has saved my life more times than I can count...in spectacularly gory ways. Be glad you saw that beast against a Geth and not something else." I chuckle in amusement as every one looks grossed out by my statement. Except for Wrex that is. He actually chuckled along with me. "Now as I was saying, let's start with the smallest and work our way up."

"Before we begin though," I bring up my omni tool and give it a quick tap.

 **Insert Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes**

Now with a sick beat going on in the background, I un-holstered the E-pistol, "First is this little peashooter that I've taken to calling the E-pistol, or energy pistol. It doesn't a whole lot of damage, but it never overheats and can do a charged shot for extra damage."

"Hold on a moment." Tali said with a raised hand, "Did you just say that that weapon doesn't over heat? Sorry but I just can't believe that."

"Well it doesn't." I respond somewhat childishly. I can tell that she wasn't convinced. "Tell you what," I said and tossed her the weapon. She must not have expected me to do so because she barely catches it, "I'll continue on with show and tell, while you fire that at the target until either A.) It stops firing, or B.) Your finger falls off."

Not even waiting to hear her response I pick up the next gun. "Next is the Combat Shotgun. This bad-boy fires a tight spread, seven pellet buckshot. It's effective from close to medium range. Its barrel can be modded with either a triple-burst shot or an explosive shot. There's a short delay between both mod shots but usually everything I'm shooting at is dead before the next shot is ready so the delay isn't even that big of a deal."

Setting it back down I glanced over to see that Tali had actually started shooting the target. Ha, I should've bet some credits. "Next is my personal favorite," I said and grabbed the Super Shotgun, "This is a traditional style double barreled, break action shotgun. Fires two, ten pellet buckshot's simultaneously and can turn just about anything unfortunate enough to be on the business end into a pile of mush." I eject the two shells, caught and twirled them between my fingers for a moment before loading them back in and snapping it shut. "It's also the only weapon that I have to reload manually."

"Awesome," Jane reached forward to grab it, but I slapped her hand away once it came withing touching distance. "But why reload it manually? Why not just warp the ammo directly into the barrels like you do with all of your other weapons?" She asked, rubbing her now sore hand.

"Oh, Jane, Jane, Jane...Jane." I begin like I was lecturing a small child. "Thy will never make a double barrel shotgun that has a clip, and must always reload by putting in the shells thyself. If thy fails to follow these two rules, thy must immediately blow thyselves fucking head off. It's just one of the fundamental rules set by the universe."

"...That makes no sense." Ash mumbled not too quietly.

"And look at how many fucks I give, MOVING ON!" I replace the Boomstick with Har. "Next is the Heavy Assault Rifle or HAR. This beautiful piece of weaponry fires high velocity, .50 BMG rounds, you know the shit we used to use for anti-material rifles. It has a medium firing rate, a tactical scope for precision shots, and a micro missiles rack. It's sturdy and reliable in most situations."

Kaidan looked at the HAR worriedly, "How can you even shoot that thing and not get dropped on your ass?"

"The suit of power armor helps," I said with a shrug before I grabbed the Plasma Rifle. "This is the Plasma Rifle and before you ask, yes it fires exactly what the name implies. I fires high damage bolts of plasma, at a high rate with minimal recoil. One draw back though is that the bolts have a very low velocity, so I tend to have to lead my targets depending on how far away they are. This thing can melt through most armors and can be equipped with a stun bomb or heat blast mod."

"How does the heat blast work?" Ash looked very interested in the plasma gun. Maybe I can let her use it some time to get on her good side.

"The weapon builds up a lot, and I mean A LOT of heat whenever it fires. The heat blast mod disperses all of the built up heat all at once in the form of a heat wave directly in from the front of the gun. It has a very short range, but the results are rather spectacular. Unfortunately, the reason you haven't been seeing me use this is because I don't have a way to restock on ammunition for it and two of my other guns."

Putting the weapon down I crack my knuckles and heft the rocket launcher onto my shoulders, "From this point onward we'll be delving into heavy weapons territory. First on the list is the classic rocket launcher. It has a large blast radius and is good against groups and enemies with heavy armor. Not very good against fast enemies, but that's what the lock-on burst is for."

"Lock-on burst?" Wrex asked.

I grin savagely, "It locks onto the target, before letting loose three rockets that seek the poor bastard down. The other mod is remote detonation. It does exactly what it says but instead of just detonating the rocket, other explosives are mounted on and ejected from the rocket itself."

"Holy shit." I hear everyone mumble under their breaths.

"Ohohoh, it only gets better form here." I grab the beast that is the chaingun. "Meet the delta-12 chaingun. It's a high velocity heavy weapon capable of suppressing multiple targets at once. An Argent infused piston compresses gas within the firing crucible to over 220,000 PSI. When released, this launches a 15mm Tungsten Slug with a muzzle velocity of nearly 5,000 feet per second. The heat generated by this action is siphoned into a thermal gel compound that automatically recharges the 96volt battery pack. This allows the weapon to sustain itself for an almost endless firing cycle, as long as there's ammunition present. At maximum rotation, it can fire 900 RPM."

I pause to take a breath before continuing. "Normally it needs a moment for the barrels to spool up, but the rotator mod disables the release safety, allowing it to be fired immediately without having to wait for maximum rotation, but I don't really use that one."

"Alright I give up!" Tali stated, having given up on making the E-pistol over heat and walks back over to the group. "This weapon defies modern technology as we know it!"

"Just in time Tali," I all but shout in excitement, "Your gonna love what this other beasts mod is." I twist off the barrel and replace it with the mobile turret mod. "This mod adds a secondary firing crucible and compression chamber allowing the weapon to fire at twice the normal rate of fire, expanding twice the ammunition and super-heating the muzzle. Normally one would have to remain stationary but I'm able to remain mobile with the use of my armor."

Wrex spoke up, "So your telling me that that thing can fire at 1800RPM's, but the heat build up makes it so that it can only fire like that for a short period of time?"

"Yes...in normal circumstances." I pause for added effect, "While clearing out the Hades facility, I came across a experimental version of the mod, one that is capable of dispersing the heat build up at the same rate it's generated. Which means?"

Tali's the first to put the pieces together, "It can fire without, over...heating. Oh come on, you bosh'tet!"

I'll freely admit that I'm grinning like a madman at this point. 'God I love this fucking weapon!' "That's correct! No over heating for this beautiful piece of death and destruction.

"Jesus," Ash whispered, "What could possibly call for that much firepower?"

That question makes me somber up a bit, "Pray that you none of you ever have to find out." Setting it chaingun back down grab my second highest damaging weapon. "Next is the gauss cannon. This is a powerful and incredibly accurate weapon that fires steel flechettes at extremely high velocities using a magnetized chamber. It can take down most targets in a single shot and that's without the assistance of mods."

"Why do I get the feeling that mods for this weapon are completely unnecessary?" Jane asks, looking both excited and terrified at what this weapon can do.

"Pretty much, but they make everything this beast can do just so much better." I place in the precision bolt mod, "This allows the bolt to be fired in a narrow beam-like blast and adds a scope, making this weapon the closest thing that I have to a sniper." I then detach the prong-like tips and equipped my second favorite mod, surpassed only by the mobile turret, Siege mode.

"With this mode, the steel flechette is converted into a massive beam that will completely obliterate anything in its path, baring all but the toughest of foes, and the kick it generates is strong enough to send me skidding back several feet, even while in my armor. What I'm trying to say is that leave firing this to me."

"And last but certainly not least," I grab the biggest gun any of them will probable ever see. This is my first time lifting it outside of my suit and even I struggle to hold it up. "This is a massively powerful plasma energy weapon that utilizes ionized Argent Energy. It fires a green burst of plasma, damaging anything near the projectile during flight and vaporizing the target upon impact, as well as causing significant splash damage to anything standing in the vicinity of the projectile's explosion. Due to the fact that I have yet to replicate ammo for it, I only use it as an absolute last resort. It cataloged as the BFG9000, but since I don't know what that stands for I just call it the Big Fucking Gun."

"I also have a few different types of grenades, but for the most part that, ladies and gentlemen," I say as I warp all of my weapons, except for the pistol which is now attached to my hip, back into my dimensional backpack. "Is what I bring to the table." I fold my hands behind my back, "Any questions?"

* * *

Man did I regret asking that question. Not only did they all have questions, but each and everyone of them wanted to try out at least one of them. Okay what I mean by everyone is Jane and Wrex. They were the only ones the voiced their want to fire them. The others were able to control their desires to an extent that the two mentioned couldn't.

Regardless of who wanted to fire what, a short time latter we were all standing just outside of side of the airlock as Joker was finishing up the docking process on Feros. Everyone was armored up and armed to the teeth.

Mere moments later and we're off the ship. With the HAR held firmly in my grip, I stuck a few steps behind Jane, the rest of the squad following close behind.

A man stood not to far ahead of where we were walking. "Thank god. We saw your ship approaching. Fai Dan sent me, we need your help against the Geth." He said reapidly, making it hard for us to understand what he was saying.

Jane put up a hand, "Whoa there, I barely caught any of that. Calm down and say that again."

The man shook his head, "Sorry but we don't have time. The Geth are getting ready to make another push. We need to go and help defend the-"

"HEADS UP!" I cried. Raising my rifle I aimed at the Geth that tried sneaking up on and pump it full of lead. Its shields are overwhelmed and it goes down in a hail of bullets.

Caught slightly off guard by the sudden fire the others shake off their surprise and take cover before firing on the rest of the advancing Geth. I took a moment to put myself between the Geth and the man, my much larger frame providing more than enough cover for the armorless man. Just in the nick of time to, as my shields absorbed shots that were meant for him as the Geth's returned fire. I return their fire in kind.

The combination of superior numbers and firepower left the Geth as nothing more than steaming piles of scrap within a few minutes.

"Garrus, Alex, you see any more?" Jane asked.

I do a thorough scan of the area, "I'm not seeing any and neither or my scanners."

"Same." Answered Garrus.

With the coast now clear everyone got out of cover. "Any injuries?" After many negatives Jane turned back to the man. Handing him her pistol she says, "Stick in the middle and tell us where to 'll get you back safely."

"R-right," The man said with some hesitance, "Right this way, just past freighter."

Following his instructions we make our way towards the settlement. We ran into some resistance along the way in the forms of a few Hoppers when we went up a flight of stairs but they fail to do any damage and are quickly taken out.

Having reached the upper level I go through the opening that lead to our destination, and am greeted with gunfire. I dove back the way I came, but my shields were almost dropped. "Jesus, what the fuck!"

The guy I saved earlier shouts out, "Hold your fire! There from the ship that just arrived! They're friendlies!"

The gunfire stops. "Shit, sorry about that. We saw what looked like a heavily armored robot and thought it was a new type of Geth."

I was having none of that, "Well I'm fucking human!"

Everyone turned and looked at me, "That armor does make you look like a robot." Kaidan says.

I respond appropriately by looking at him and pointing a certain finger to the sky.

I she Jane shake her head in exasperation but there's a small smile present on her lips. "Move up."

Going forward we go past the improvised barricade made of heavy looking crates and enter the settlement. The place is sparsely populated, with a few workers trying to keep the place running.

"Fai Dan should be on the other end of the settlement," Our guide said, "and thanks for saving my ass back there." With that said he left to go help reinforce the barricade.

As we make are way through we pass multiple injured people. It didn't take us long to reach the other side where two people were speaking. One was a man and the other a woman in body armor. The two seemed to be in a heated discussion but stopped once we got close.

"You're the ones from the ship correct?" Asked the man.

"That's right," Jane said with a hand on her hip. "Fai Dan I assume. I'm Commander Shepard and this is my ground team. We came to see if we can give you a hand."

"Kind of a bit late, don't you think?" The woman asked with a small bit of disdain.

"Arcelia!" Fai Dan looked at us apologetically, "Sorry about that commander, it's just that we've all been on edge since-"

"Yeah, I hate to interrupt," I said with my gun raised and pointed at the incoming wave of Geth, "But I think it would be best if we dealt with them first!" What is it with the Geth and showing up during conversations anyway? Is it like a part of their programming to show up at the most inconvenient times? You know what fuck it, I'm just gonna stick with shooting at them.

"Fuck!" Jane shouted as a rocket sailed over them and detonated on one of the building behind them. "Alex, Wrex! You two push forward and get in close! Liara, Kaidan! Give them some barriers! Ash, you and Garrus provide sniper support while Tali and I try to keep them in cover!"

I grin savagely as a purple glow enveloped my armor. Looking at Wrex I see him with a face splitting grin as well. With near perfect synchronization, the two of us leap over cover and charge head first into the oncoming fire. The barrier's do there job and absorb most of the shots and allow us to close the gap.

Once close I switch to my Super Shotgun and unload both barrels point blank into a rocket troop. Its shields immediately collapse and is turned into scrap metal, along with the two others that were behind it. One managed to but up one of those hexagon shields, but I just crash through it and put my fist all the way through its chest.

A hopper jumped at me, but I halted it by throwing the Geth that was still on my arm at it, sending the two crashing into the wall. The hopper tried to get back up, but my armored boot crushed its flashlight head.

"Push forward to the tower, that's where they're coming from!" Following Jane's orders we move up the stairs, me being in the front with the others following a few steps behind.

After saving a colonist that was pinned down we entered the chamber that the Geth were being deployed into. Knowing that this part was always a pain in the ass for me in the game, I decided to change things up a little bit.

Dismissing my Super Shotgun, I brought out the chaingun, already in turret mode. Giving it a second to spool up, I pull the trigger...and what follows is nothing short of magnificent.

The sheer number of projectiles drained any and all of the shields that they came in contact with. The Geth didn't even have a moment to process what the hell just happened before exploding into a heaping piles of scrap. A few drones were able to dodge of my shot, but the overwhelming fire power proved too much and they to perish in mini explosions.

Nothing was safe. Not shields, armor, even the cover that the Geth were hiding behind were reduced to rubble, shredded by the awesome power of a weapon that is considered 'Primitive' when compared to modern day weaponry. Well the 'Primitive' weapon just kicked the advanced race of machines in their metaphorical balls.

Releasing the trigger, I let the now red hot barrels cool off. Turning to the others I see them stare at the remnants of the Geth for a moment before looking at me. Patting the giant gun affectionately I switch to my combat shotgun with the burst shot.

"...I really want to try out your guns." Jane says with a completely straight face.

I shrug my shoulders, "Maybe some other time. How about we get back to Fai Dan and tell him the good news."

 **-END-**


	12. FUCKING CREEPERS

**Zrocker119: Rejoice my cult, for you're grandmaster had returned with a new chapter!**

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 **Zrocker119: On a more serious note, yeah I'm not dead. Sorry it took(glances at calendar) wow, almost nine months for this chapter to come out. Lots of shit has happened to me since my last update. I finally moved out of my parents place and am now rooming with two of my college friends, now right down the road from my school and had to go job hunting. Classes are getting more difficult but I'm confident that I can manage school work and my stories.**

 **So in all, I'm going to be taking turns working on this story the rewrite of my very first story on the sight. One last thing before I get to the chapter. It makes me happy to announce that this story now has over 1000 favorites and over 1200 follower! HOLY SHIT!**

 **Now...onto the chapter**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

"This is sucks." Those were the words that I spoke as I walked through the tunnels in the lower levels of the tower. After speaking with Fai Dan, Jane decided to leave a small, three man squad behind in case the Geth tried to attack the colony while she and the rest went to the ExoGeni building to eliminate the Geth HQ. The three that she selected to remain were Ash, Liara and myself.

When I asked why she was leaving me behind, Jane responded that I would be the best choice to defend the colony, given my vast arsenal, if the Geth were to attack.

"Oh quit your bitching," Is Ash's response, "It's not like were aren't doing anything." Clearly she wasn't too happy about being left behind either. It didn't help that Jane, in all of her wiseness, decided to leave me in charge.

.

.

.

Me. In charge of a small squad. Jane and the others left almost twenty minutes ago and I was still questioning her decision. I mean I'm flattered that she trusts me that much, but I'm no leader. I'm just a reckless berserker that rips and tears apart anything that pisses him off.

Now, in case you're wondering why these two lovely ladies and myself are searching the lower levels? Well that's because we volunteered to help out the colonists with some tasks that proved to be too dangerous for them to do themselves, due to the Geth presence.

Of the many things we were asked to look into, we all agreed that finding and turning the water pumps back on was the most important one.

"I think I see the pump," Liara said as she pointed to a glowing blue panel a few meters ahead of us.

After carefully making our way to it I hold my omni tool up to it. The panel flashes brighter for a second but the sound of rushing water is not heard. "There must be more than one pump." Ash suggests.

"It would seem like it." I responded dryly and motion for us to keep moving. Moving further down the tunnels, we encountered a little Geth resistance but it wasn't anything a small amount of heavy arms fire couldn't handle. "Is killing Geth starting to get a bit boring for anyone else, or is it just me?" I ask while beating in the head of a Geth with the severed arm of my previous victim.

Tossing the limb aside, I switch to me combat shotgun and use an explosive shot to take out a cluster of Geth that were hiding behind cover.

"Pretty sure it's just you!" Ash responds after blowing a hole in the chest of another with her shotgun.

Liara sent one flying through the air with her biotics, heading in my direction. Sticking out my arm out, I clothesline it with enough force to knock its head clean off. Wiping the stray oil off of my suit, I check to see if there are any more.

"We're clear," I motion for them to fall in behind me, covering them with my larger frame. This was the strategy that we had been putting into practice a lot recently. Since I have more than proven that I can take a fuck ton of damage and keep on fighting, I had been unofficially designated as the teams bullet sponge.

Team, man I'm still getting used to the idea of somebody watching my six.

Following the corridor we find yet the second pump and turn it on. Moving even further down we can across a slight problem, that being the corridor splitting in two different directions.

'This was not how it was in the game.'

 _'There were bond to be some differences Alex.'_ Is VEGA's reply.

'I figure there would be some eventually, but I didn't think it would be the environment.' Dropping my gun to my side, I face Ash and Liara, "What do you girls think? Left or right?"

"Does it really matter," Asked Ash, "We have to search the whole floor for Geth anyway, so we'll be backtracking regardless of which way we go."

"Hmm, you make an excellent point," I take a moment to glance down either path before shouldering my gun and walk down the hall on the right, "Let's take this one."

We walked down the corridor for several minutes, checking every room along the way and came to an open area with a bridge, the only problem was that the bridge had collapsed. I kick a stray stone over the edge and watch as is disappears into the bottomless abyss that was the lower floors.

"It seems that this is a bust," Liara says as she kept away from the edge.

Ash meanwhile aimed through the scope on her sniper to get a look at what was on the other side. "Not seeing anything other than a door on the far left-wait...I can see Geth!"

"How many?"

"Two automatic turrets, a basic unit, two snipers above an-and a Krogan?" Ash couldn't understand why one of them would be here.

'Ah, this must be where the transmitter is.' Out loud I say, "Well we're gonna have to get across this gap. Can't just leave them to there own devices."

"And how do you expect us to cross that?" Ash asked dryly, "That's easily a eight meter jump."

* * *

 **3rd Person POV**

"I'm working on it," Was Alex's response as he walked off to find something to help them across.

"Grr," Ash kicked a stone into the abyss, "I can't stand that man!"

Liara gave her a confused look, "Why do you hate Mr. Carter so much?"

"It's his mannerisms or in this case the lack there of," It was not acceptable for a soldier to allow personal feelings to interfere with the mission, but Alexander Carter just pissed her off. "He acts like he's invincible, disregards the Commanders orders at almost every opportunity and we don't even know what his motives are!"

"Shepard seems to trust him."

"And I don't understand why!" Ash would've said more but the sound of running footsteps caught her attention. Ash and Liara turn around to see Alex sprinting towards them at fast speeds.

Before they could question why he was running, he had ran between them, grabbing them both by the waist while doing so. Ash was tossed over his shoulder while Liara was tucked under his arm. A second later he hit the edge of the bridge and jumped. Ashley's military training was what kept her from crying out like a damsel in distress. Liara meanwhile had no such experience to fall back on.

A little more than midway through the jump the trio had begun to fall and that was when Ashley almost screamed. But Alex activated his thrust boots and that gave them the boost to clear the rest of the jump. They touched down on the other side with almost two meters to spare.

* * *

 **Alex's POV**

"What the fuck, Carter!?"

I didn't need to look to know that Ash was trying to burn a hole through my helmeted head, "What? I got us all across didn't I?"

"While I can't argue that," Ha she admits that she couldn't argue with the results, "But you are clearly feeling up my ass."

I glanced over to see that yes, yes indeed my hand is currently placed on her ass. I quickly set the two of them down. Ash looked ready to shoot me and Liara was doing to Asari equivalent of a blush, "...That was not intentional."

"Let's just clear the tunnels and get the hell out of here." A grain sized bullet hit the floor at our feet, shutting up any further conversation.

The snipers had spotted us and were opening fire with the turrets following suit.

With no cover between us and them, I took on the role of bullet sponge again and charge forward. The HAR barked in my hands as I returned fire, dropping one of the turrets shields. I found myself glowing purple as a barrier was added to my shields. Seems that Liara was learning.

One of the snipers dropped to ground level, a whole punched clean through its flashlight head, leaving only one more, the turrets and a lone Krogan.

At least that what it was at first, before the door on the left opened and in charged two more Krogan. My shields really started to take a beating, so I doubled my efforts by unloading burst of mini-rockets at the turrets. The one that had already lost it's shields exploded into scrap while the second was knocked on its side.

The other sniper fell dead from Ash's sniper rifle and tumbled from its perch. I caught its corpse before it hit the ground, using it as a shield from the oncoming Krogan fire. Once close enough I threw the machine at one of the three, knocking him on his ass.

The closest one charged me but I used him as a spring board and was then chewed into a bloody mess by the combined gunfire of my companions. I activated my thrust boots at the peak of my jump to reach maximum height, falling back down on top of the remaining Krogan, the weight of my armor crushing his chest. He didn't get a chance to cry in pain as I pulled my fist back punched clean through his helmeted skull.

Shaking my hand free of gore I waited for till Ash and Liara were at my side before entering the room. Thankfully there was no ambush waiting for us, but instead was a large machine that stood tall in the back corner of the room.

"Looks like we found the Geth transmitter." Ashley pulled of her omni tool, "I should be able to shut it down. Just give me a fe-"

I cut her off, litterally, as I summoned and revved up my chainsaw. It cut through the machine like a hot knife through butter, putting up some resistance but ultimately failing.

"Sorry but my way was faster," I hear Ash grumble a bit but say nothing about it. "Let's get back to finding our other objectives."

"How do we get back across the gap?"

Sometimes I wish that my helmet visor was somewhat transparent, just so that Ash and Liara could see the my shit eating grin.

* * *

"Somethings wrong." We had just returned from our trip in the tunnels below the colony. There was no one posted at the entrance to act as look out, and all we could see were upon returning is these green growths on the ground.

"These weren't here when we left," Ash says as she unfolds her assault rifle. knowing what is to come I switch out my HAR for the Combat Shotgun with the explosives mod.

Ash shot me a questionable look, "Expecting something big to show up."

"No problem exists that can't be solved by either Alcohol or high explosives," I pumped the action, "And I'm betting that the former won't apply here."

 _"Normandy to ground team!"_ Came Joker's voice over the coms.

 _"This is Shepard,"_ Responded the commander, _"What's the situation Joker?"_

 _"The colonists have gone crazy! They're outside the ship, trying to claw their way in!"_

 _"There's a creature called the Thorian that live underneath the colony,"_ Explained Jane, _"It released spores into the air that give it the ability to control the minds of those that are infected. ExoGeni had been studying it, and allowed it to infect the entire colony."_

I figured now was a good time to speak up, _"This is Alex. My group and I are just outside the entrance from the lower levels, we didn't find any creature down there."_

 _"The entrance is hidden in the heart of the colony, We know where but the colonists will be fighting us the whole way."_

 _"Rules of engagement commander?"_ Chimed in Ashley.

 _"No colonists are to be killed,"_ I let out a quiet sigh of relief when Jane said that, _"They don't deserve to loose their lives because of something that's out of their control. We have gas grenades that will make them fall unconscious, but we don't have that many to spare."_

 _"Nonlethal only then, got it."_ I switched the com off and led my partners into the colony. "You heard Jane, no civilian casuati-" I stopped when I saw what lied before us.

They're greyish-green in color with the appearance of a human corpse with long claws and no eyes. There was a small horde of them, easily fifty in number. One turned towards us and let out an inhuman screech. That was a signal to the horde to charge us.

"We need to fall back!" Ashley shouted, grabbing Liara to lead her away.

I didn't budge, though it wasn't fear that caused me to lockup. No, it was raw, unadulterated rage. For I wasn't seeing a horde of Creepers that the others were seeing. I was seeing the shambling corpses of the Possessed.

 **RIP AND TEAR**

With a war cry that caused my squad-mates to flinch, I charged head first into the horde, ignoring the calls of my friends.

For there was nothing that could be said to break me from my rage induced trance.

The first Creeper was completely obliterated as I crashed right through it, its plant-like body offering no resistance. With hardly anything to stop my momentum I charged through three more ending it with a flying knee to another face.

One jumped at my back, only to be killed by a spinning elbow. Grabbing another by the skull, I whipped it around, using its body as a tool of death. I did this until it was nothing but a head and torso before discarding it.

I planted my fist through anothers chest and pulling it out its side, severing it completely in half. I felt one on my back and trying to bit my neck. I rewarded it by throwing it over my shoulder and curb stomping it into mush.

Something impacted against my chest that caused me to pause. I glanced down to see some sort of liquid on my armor, but it just slid off and onto the ground. The patch of ground immediately began to steam.

I found myself grinning murderously when I saw that their acidic spit had absolutely zero effect on my Praetor suit. Cracking my knuckles I resumed the one sided slaughter.

* * *

 **Jane and Co**

Jane and the others had just stepped off of the elevator when they heard the cry. It caused something within Jane to recoil in fear. The part of her that she had, up till now, buried deep within her mind.

"What the hell was that!?" Garrus had raised his gun and was looking around for the enemy.

"What's the problem Turian," Wrex grunted, "Never heard a war cry before?"

 _"Commander!"_

Jane put a finger to her earpiece, _"Ashley, what the hell is going on over there!?"_

 _"It's Carter, Commander. We ran into a horde of these 'creatures' and he completely lost it!"_

'She must be talking about the Creepers.' Jane deduced. They had run into a few of the plant monster back in the garage.

 _"Alex, this is Jane. disengage and re-"_

 ** _"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"_**

Everyone that was listening in froze at the sound that came through the coms, even those that were within the safety of the Normandy flinched in fear at the roar of rage.

"Let's get moving!" No one said a word as the booked it for the center of the colony.

When they encounter no resistance from the colonists, Jane became especially worried. If they had gone to attack Alex when he was in his current state...she didn't want to think about what they would have do to restrain him.

As they rounded the corner of a building, Jane was forced to lean back as a green blur flew past her face. It didn't stop until it had impacted against the stone wall some twenty meters away. The group eyes widened in shock when it was revealed to be Alex. His left arm hung limp at his side and his chest looked to be caved in.

"ALEX!"

A loud thud drew their attention from their probably dead teammate. Jane looked up and had to suppress a horrified scream at what she saw.

It was massive, Easily as large as an Elcor even as was leaning down to crouch on the edge of the colonial building. It's entire body was cover it hardened plant matter, with only thighs and biceps unarmored. Its head was similar to that of a Creepers but its mouth was much wider and had much longer teeth. Its limbs were long and lanky, ending with hands and feet that were armed with claws that look able to tear though a heavily armored vehicle with ease.

It sniffed the air before it turned towards them, revealing a pair of black, beady eyes in the back of its sockets. It's toothy maw split open as it let out a terrifying, high pitched screech that put Alex's war cry to shame.

 **"GGGGRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**

"OPEN FIRE!"

With speed that something of its size shouldn't posses, the Creeper Brute leapt to side as the five of them unleashed every thing they had at it. It latched onto the high wall and kicked off of it, hurtling towards them. Jane didn't even need to give the command to scatter as they dove out of the way.

Jane didn't put enough distance between her and the impact zone and was thrown through the air from the shockwave, hitting the ground hard. It rose up from the crater it created on impact, standing at a staggering four meters tall in its slouched stance.

The Creeper Brute prepared to pounce on the disorientated commander, had a giant beam of energy not blasted it back into a building.

"That's for the cheap shot, you mother fucker!" Alex roared as he hefted the Gauss Cannon and ran towards the commanders side. "Jane, you good?"

"H-how are you-" Jane was having a hard time under standing how he was alive, let alone moving. His arm was working fine and his armor didn't show any signs of damage.

"I was still on a berserker induced high when it tagged me so my healing was sped up," He explained as he helped her to her feet, "That probably didn't finish it, so you need to take the others and continue the mission. I'll stay and finish it off."

"Continue the mission!" Jane yelled in his face, "We aren't gonna leave you by yourself to fight that thing!"

"I've fought bigger," While the Creeper Brute was impressive, it wasn't nearly as large and tough as the Cyberdemon. "Just get to the Thorian. If it made these things then taking it out should kill them as well."

 **"GRRRRR,"** They could hear the Brute shifting about in the building.

"Just go!" Jane Looked at him with defience in her eyes, before handing him the gas grenades.

"Not sure how these'll do against its hide but my gut tells me that you'll figure something out." Alex nodded and clipped them to his waist. "Where are the colonist?"

Alex's hands curled into fists, "The creatures killed them all. Any that survived are the ones attacking the ship."

Jane's face didn't show any emotion, but he could tell that the news stung. She signaled for everyone to follow her, "Let's get to the Thorian."

 _"Negative on that Shepard,"_ Garrus cracked over the coms, _"I'm in a good position to provide sniper support. I'll hang here and help Alex take that thing out."_

The commander looked up and spied the Turian in an elevated spot near the back of the colony. "Roger that Garrus."

* * *

 **Alex's POV**

As Jane and the others moved in on the Thorian's position, I focused on the hole that the Creeper Brute was still in. It had caught me completely off guard with its initial attack, but now that I knew how it fought, I could kill it no problem.

"Watching my back buddy?" I called out to Garrus as I brought out the Super Shotgun.

 _"We aren't friends,"_ Was his response, _"But if we manage to kill this thing, then I'll let you buy me a drink the next time we stop on the Citadel."_

"Sounds good for me."

 **"GGGRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA!"**

I jumped to the side as the Brute came rocketing out of the building. I fired both barrels as it passed, doing minimal damage to its armored chest. I made a "Tch" sound and backpedaled as it lashed out with its claws.

A threw a frag grenade that exploded on impact. I used the distraction to bring out the Chaingun. The duel, tri-barrels spooled up and unleashed a hail storm of lead. The Brute scurried along the ground and walls, moving at frightening speeds that made it hard to get a bead on.

It suddenly shifted directions, now heading straight for me. I switched to the Combat Shotgun and fired an explosive shot. The shot flew true and connected right on its face, obscuring it in a cloud of smoke.

It came charging out of the smoke screen no worse for ware and leapt at me, its clawed hand out stretched. I barely manage to avoid it as its claws scraped against the Praetor Suits chest piece.

The sound of a sniper is heard, followed by the Brute screeching in pain, one of its eyes shot out.

Enraged it took of towards Garrus's position. Knowing that he would be completely fuck if it got to him, I switched to the Rocket Launcher and fire three lock-on rockets.

It managed to dodge them two of them but one managed to hit its back. It managed to tear off a chunk of armor and succeeded in setting it focus back on me. What I wasn't expecting it to do though was for it to dive right past me and into the pile of Creeper corpses that was the after math of my rampage.

My thought ended when the corpses seemed to be absorbed through its skin. I watched in morbid fascination as bulked in size and muscle. Its back burst as four tendrils emerged from it. Its armor visibly thickened and it grew another meter in height. It turned towards me with its now heavily armored skull.

 **"GGGRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**

 _"You've got to be fucking with kidding me!"_

I found myself not disagreeing with Garrus's statement.

Switching back to the Gauss Cannon, with it already in siege mode, I fired right at its chest. It seemed to remember what kind of damage the weapon could cause, because its new tendrils stabbed into the ground and moved it out of the way.

Seeing that it could dodge the Gauss Cannon at this distance with little difficult, I closed the distance between me and it. The Brute roared and punch at me. I dodged and it buried its arm up to the elbow in the hard floor.

I took that as a sign not to get hit and aimed at the buried limb. A grin found its way onto my face as it was severed from its body. My victory was short lived as one of its tendrils lashed out and struck my chest with force of a eighteen wheeler.

Pulling myself out of the wall that I had crashed into, I groaned when I saw it reattach its severed limb.

Summoning the Rocket Launcher once again, I fire the lock-on rocket in rapid succession, well over fifteen of them. They swarmed the Brute but it didn't even flinch as they detonated on its armor carapace.

'Fuck! Need something that can do more damage.' I could always pull out the BFG, but there was no guarantee that it could kill it in one shot. 'Wait a minute...damage.' My edges of my vision was suddenly flooded with purple and I was grinning once again.

"Garrus! Take out its eyes!"

Two shots ring out and the Brute is effectively blinded.

 _"Give me a challenge next time."_

"Target the spot where the heart would be and keep hitting it. I need that armor weakened."

Storing the Rocket Launcher, I pull out the Super Shotgun. With that in hand I rush forward as more sniper shot went off.

Now that it was blind the Brute around in a rage. I dodge around it many limbs and leapt onto its chest. I pressed the double barreled boomstick right where Garrus had been tagging it and pulled the trigger. The quad damage power-up made it so that the shot did an immense amount of damage, but it still didn't punch all the way through.

But that's what my fist was for.

I stored my gun away and allowed quad damage to fade away in exchange for berserker. Fueled by rage, I punched the weakened armor. The force sent the Brute crashing down on its back but my fist failed to go through, so I did it again, and again, and again.

On the fifth attempt, I finally broke through the armor and buried my entire arm in its chest cavity before jumping back to a safe distance.

The Brute started to get back to its feet, but soon fell and started thrashing about as body started to eat away at itself. less than thirty seconds later and it was nothing but a pile of green shit.

I heard foot steps come up beside me.

"What the hell did you do to it?"

I turn to Garrus and point down towards my waist, now free of the gas grenades that Jane had left me. "I summoned them all into my hand when it was inside it and crushed them."

"Hm, I was getting ready to head down to the garage and bring up a Mako," Garrus said with a shrug, "But I guess your way worked just fine."

That caused be to pause.

.

.

.

"THERE WAS A FUCKING TANK AND YOU DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO TELL ME!"

 **END**


	13. No catchy title!

**Zrocker119: Well shit, been some time. I know that I said last chapter that I would be writing more often, and I have...but I've been more focused on the rewrite for one of my other stories. But I've decided to set that one aside for now and get a few more chapters put out for what is easily my more popular story.**

 **Don't really have anything else to say so I'll just let you get to the actual chapter.**

 **-DOOM Effect-**

"I fail to see why I'm here." I was currently seated on one of the beds in the med-bay, wearing nothing but my jeans and boots, my shirt laying of to the side. Dr. Chakwas stood beside me with her omni tool out, running a full body scan.

"I saw the video recorded by lieutenant Alenko's helmet, including when you were tossed by that creature," She proved her point by bringing up a copy of said recording and playing it for me. "Your chest was completely caved in and your arm was broken in several places and yet not even a minute later, you were up and running like nothing happened."

I sighed, "Like I told Jane, I was in an argent induced rage. With so much energy flowing through my system any wounds I sustain will heal at an accelerated rate."

"I don't care," Karin fixed me with a glare that ended any argument that I had, "It's my job as the chief medical officer to ensure that all crew members are examined after receiving an injury in the field." The corner of her lips slipped into a slight smirk, "Besides, I think your little fan club in enjoying the show."

I let out a groan and glanced out the windows to the med-bay. A rather large majority of the female crew members on this level were watching through the windows to enjoy the show of my shirtless examination. "I'm not one to enjoy this kind of attention."

That earned me a raised brow, "Your choice of clothing says otherwise."

"I like the freedom of movement," is all that I choose to say, "Are we done here?"

She sighed and looked back to her omni tool, "According to my scans, your the picture of health. Just try not to keep getting punched into or through walls. I don't want to see your injured to the extent that even your enhanced healing stops working."

I smiled softly at the doctor. I would lie, it's kind of nice to have Karin dotting over me like a mother hen.

"I'll try and keep injury to a minimal, but we both know that I'll probably be back in here after the next ground mission." I went to put my shirt back on but paused as an idea came to mind. After a giving it some thought, my wife beater blinked out of existence and was replaced by a white T-shirt.

"I read about how you can do that with weapons, but I didn't think the same applied towards clothing." Karin comments, clearly interested in how the dimensional backpack worked.

"I took a guess and it seems that it worked. To be honest I feel kind of stupid for not trying it out sooner." I tried it again, but instead of cloths I was encased in my power suit. Another moment passed and I was back in my civilian cloths.

Awesome, now I didn't need to spend ten minutes to get my armor on. "I'll see you around doc. Oh, I'll make sure to bring drinks next time." I gave her a two fingered salute before heading out the room.

Ignoring the looks from the gathered crowd I made my way to the elevator, but as I moved to press the button, the doors opened to reveal Shepard.

"Oh Alex," She said in surprise, "I was just coming to see if Karin had let you go yet."

"Just did. I've got a clean bill of heath." I stood next to her and pressed to button for the cargo bay. "So what's up next for us Commander?"

She raised a brow at my question, "What happened to first name basis?"

I shrugged, "Just felt like throwing you a curve ball."

"Ah, well in that case Carter," she continued with a friendly smirk, "We're on our way back to the Citadel to resupply and get a replacement for our Mako that you wrecked." She thoroughly ignored my glare at that comment. "But we need to make a quick stop in the Sparta system."

It was my turn to raise a brow, "Seems kind of out of our way. What do we need that's out way out there?"

"I was contacted by Admiral Kahoku not too long ago. He asked for us to find one of his recon teams that went missing."

I don't know what it was, but something about the details of the mission scratched at the back of my skull. While trying to delve back into my innate knowledge of the universe, I nodded. "Sound easy enough. To save you the trouble of asking me, I volunteer." The doors opened and I stepped out.

"Thanks Alex," Jane pushed the button for the captains quarters. As the doors closed she said, "We'll be there in a few hours, so get some food and rest while you can."

I only did the latter of her suggestions, as I had sworn a vow to never eat military food ever again. Note to self, when we arrive at the Citadel, go grocery shopping

* * *

 **-Several hours latter-**

I stepped off of the ramp to the cargo hold and onto the desert along side Jane and Garrus, both of which were wearing helmets for once. The planet Edolus was extremely hazardous with an atmosphere that consisted of nothing but carbon dioxide and nitrogen and despite being mostly desert it was always below zero. My Praetor suit could hold up just fine, but my companions didn't have the same luxuries that the nearly indestructible armor provided.

They only had an hour at most, so we had so move fast.

"The distress signal is directly one click south of us," The commander said as she brought up her map, " Shouldn't take us more than three minutes to get there if we hustle."

And so the three of us headed out. It was a relatively peaceful mark forward, minus the toxic air and the occasional meteor that came too close for comfort. Other than that though we made it to the transmitters location with no problems. Unfortunately though, we also found the battered remains of M29 Grizzly along with the corpses of several marines.

"I'm gonna hazard a guess and say these are the Admiral's mission recon team." Garrus pointed out as he knelt down to examine the body. "Looks like their armor was partially melted. Know anything that can do that?"

"Nothing comes to mind," Jane remarked, doing a sweep of the area. "From the way they have the Grizzly stationed, it looks like they came to investigate the distress signal. What do you think Alex?"

Even though I heard Jane's question, my thoughts weren't on her. No, I was paying attention to what VEGA as currently saying to me.

'Say that again VEGA.'

 _'I am currently detecting seismic activity in the nearby vicinity.'_ Informed the AI, _'What ever the cause of it is, it's currently heading towards your location.'_

"Alex?" Jane put a hand on my shoulder, "What seems to be th-" She was cut off the by ground shaking violently before erupting as something huge crawled out. The creature towered over them all as it let out an ungodly screech.

"Thresher Maw!" Garrus shouted as the enormous space worm announced its presence. "Find cover!"

I went to follow the Turian but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the commander wasn't moving. "Jane!" I ran at her as the worm lunged forward, it massive maw wide open.

* * *

 **-3rd Person POV-**

With the arrival of the Thresher Maw, Jane found her body going numb as fear began to take hold. With her mind being bombarded with flashbacks of the Akuze massacre, she was completely helpless as the worm reared its ugly head back and lunged forward, prepared to swallow her whole.

When it was only a few meters away something grabbed her by the shoulders and Jane found herself flying back. The sudden motion finally snapped her out of her trance like state, to see Alex standing where she once stood. Her visor met his for and instant, before he was completely enveloped by the giant worm's mouth.

"ALEX!" With a cry of rage Jane unfolded her rifle and began firing upon the creature. Her weapon had absolutely no effect on the creature as the Maw burrowed beneath the ground, taking Alex with it. Jane could only stare in horror at the hole that her squad mate-no, her friend was dragged into. "Nonononono!" She ran towards the hole, but was halted by Garrus wrapping an arm around her waist.

"He gone commander!" Garrus yelled as he struggled to pull the redhead back. He didn't let it show, but even he was shocked by Alex's sudden demise. He may not of liked the man that much, but even Garrus didn't think anyone should die in such a way.

"Let go of me damn it!"

Garrus stored his gun on his back so that he could use both arms to retrain the commander. Eventually managed to pick her up and carry her to the destroyed Grizzly, her fighting him the whole way.

"I know he's alive!" Jane tried to go back, but Garrus kept his hold on her. She eventually lost the will to fight and just stared at the hole left by the Thresher Maw.

 _"This is the Normandy to ground team,"_ Jokers voice came over the coms, _"We just lost Alex's vitals! The hell is going on down there?!"_

"We need immediate extraction," Garrus yelled back, "A Thresher Maw got Alex and the only thing standing between us and it is a ruined Grizzly!"

He heard Joker mutter several curse words before responding, _"Alright we're on are way! ETA 2 minutes! Just hold out!"_

Despite rescue being so close, Garrus knew that they might not make it in time. Feeling the ground shaking once more he unfolded his rifle. Looking towards Jane he saw that she had yet to move. 'Shit!' He grabbed her rifle as well and held it in his other hand. He knew that it wouldn't help but he refused to go down without a fight.

The Thresher Maw emerged once again, prompting him to start firing. His aim was atrocious due his akimbo style, but the target was so large that he wasn't worried about missing. Hearing more gunfire, he glance over to see the commander unloading with her sniper rifle.

 _"Joker to ground team. Alex's life signs just picked back up!"_

Just as the two were going to ask how the hell that was possible, they noticed that the worm wasn't paying any attention to two of them as it just continued to rise higher and higher into the air. Well over 40 meters of its body was above ground when it let out a screech, copious amounts of blood spilling from it's mouth. It gave one last roar before falling to the ground with an earth shattering crash.

The impact finally snapping Jane from her blind rage. She stared at the Maws body for several moments before seeing something strange. A small part of its long body seemed to bulge slightly. A second passed before what looked like the end of a chainsaw cut down the side, before retreating back in and repeating the process a few more feet down. That section then proceeded to explode, allowing a literal waterfall of blood to splash onto the sand.

A few moments later, the armored form of Alex came tumbling out at well.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Alex swore as he got to his feet, wiping off the neon blue blood from his visor. He turned towards the corpse and gave it a good kick. "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" For every word he spoke, Alex gave it another kick.

"Alex!"

The Doom Slayer turned just in time to catch the commander as she tried tackling him to the ground. "Jane? what's the pr-" Alex stopped speaking as he felt her arms wrap around him.

Caught off guard and not really sure what to do in this situation, Alex just patted Jane on the back in an attempt to comfort her.

"I'll be damned," Garrus spoke as he approached, the Normandy landing behind the duo. "I've seen a lot of crazy thing, but I've never seen someone kill a Thresher Maw from the inside out."

Alex went to speak but was cut off by Joker.

 _"Uh, Joker here. Mind explaining why there's a hole in the giant space worm and why Alex looks like he just got back from partying with the Blue Man Group?"_

Before Alex could even begin to question how Joker knew about those guy's, Jane beat him to the punch.

"Just get us off this fucking planet." Jane ordered as the let go of Alex. The Marine and Turian watched as Jane sluggishly returned to the ship. The two shared a look before shrugging and followed after her.

* * *

 **-Alex POV-**

After checking up with the doc for the second time in one day I returned to the mess hall, where the entire ground team sat around, minus the Commander. Since returning to the ship, Jane had reported their findings to the Admiral, informing him of his recon teams fate and had since then stayed up in her quarters.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Ashley asked once I took a seat, "First that think back on Zhu's Hope and now a Thresher Maw. So what's next on your list before you finally become the top monster?"

I shot her a look that spoke volumes of how unnamed I was, "You do know that I don't plan for these right? Anyway, has Jane come down yet?"

Kaiden let out a sigh, "No, but given her history with Thresher Maw it's understandable that she wants some time to herself."

The non-human members and I all shared a look. "Mind filling us in?"

"Akuze," He began, "The commander was apart of the unit that was sen-"

The rest of what he was saying was lost to me as I left the room and entered the elevator. I knew all to well about what happened to the commander. Once I was back in the cargo hold I immediately began searching my little area. I was able to find the objects of my search fairly quick and got back in the elevator.

A few moments later and I was standing outside of the commanders door. The holographic image glowed red, informing me that the door was currently locked.

I stood with my knuckles hovering over the door for a moment before deciding to bite the bullet and knocked. I couldn't here anything moving, but a few minutes later the door switched from red to green. Taking that as a sign, I pressed the panel and opened the door.

First thought that came to mind upon seeing the captains quarters...not the bad. Not nearly as spacious as the one on the Cerberus built Normandy, but other tan the lacking of a fish tank they were pretty similar.

Walking in I saw Jane lying on the bed, starring at the ceiling. As I approached she sat up allowing me to see that she wasn't wearing her uniform, but instead chose to wear a pair of shorts and a top.

"Alex," She greeted tiredly, "Need something?"

I held up the items that I had brought up with me. A bottle of Blantons whiskey and two glasses, "Figured you could use some company."

Despite her current mood, she smiled slightly at that and nodded. Popping the cork, I pored us both a glass and passed on to her. I took a seat on the edge of the bed and held up my glass.

She clanked hers against my and we both took a drink.

"Been a while since I've had something like that," Jane commented as she idle twirled her glass. "I think the last time was with my brother, back when I first completed N7 training."

"Well, I've got plenty left," I offered with the bottle raised. At her nod I refilled her glass.

She stared at it for a moment before setting it down on the nightstand, "You gave us quite the scare, getting eaten like that."

"Wouldn't be the first time," I muttered not so quietly. At her curious gaze I quick shook my head. "Story for another time." A few more moments pass before I ask, "Why did you freeze up like that?"

Jane sighed as she rubbed her neck, "I thought I was over it. The Maw back there was the first I've seen since Akuze and yet I still can't stop myself from freezing up." She pulled her knees to her chest, "When ever I hear of a Thresher Maw attack, I always think back to that day and of the friends I lost. Seeing you getting swallowed up for saving me...it just hit a little too close to home."

I looked at Jane for a moment, stunned at the sudden confession. To be honest I was caught off guard, having never expected something like this from her. The games had always made the commander seem like a perfect soldier that got shit done. Not this vulnerable woman that sad next to me.

The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became. I was so used to the commander Shepard that I played as throughout the Mass Effect Trilogy, that I had forgotten that Jane was her own person. She was no longer a voiceless program in a video game. She was a human being that felt emotions. Had dreams and aspirations of her own.

And it took me seeing her in such a vulnerable state to finally see that. 'Fuck,' I thought, mentally kicking myself in the ass.

"Alex?" I glanced over to see Jane looking at me with a slightly concerned expression, "You've been staring at the floor for a few minutes now. Everything alright?"

I gave a small chuckle and downed the rest of my glass, setting it on the nightstand. "Yeah, just realized something I should've sooner. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Jane chuckled as well, raising her glass slightly, "If anything, you've got me feeling feeling pretty comfortable."

Refilling both glasses, I decided to change the conversation to a less depressing subject. "I remember you saying that you have a mother and brother. What are they like."

That brought a smile to Jane's face. "Well like me they're both in the Navy. Mom's the captain of the dreadnought SSV Kilimanjaro, while my older brother is a N7 like me."

"So your a younger sibling too," I comment.

"Only by 4 minutes," Jane said with a smirk," Doesn't stop John from teasing me though."

"Ha," I laughed, "Man I know that feeling."

"You've got family?"

"Had," I smiled sadly at the thought of the family that I could never see again and thought I was dead. "My Father died when I was twenty with my brother and his family following a few years ago because of an accident." Jane moved to speak but I held up a hand. "Don't apologize for something you didn't know about. Besides, I may not be able to see them again but I'll never forget the good times we had."

"That's a good outlook to have," Jane took a another drink, this one noticeably smaller than the ones from before. Looks like she was finally calming down from earlier.

We spent the next several hours swapping stories between us. I learned that Jane was more than capable of holding her liquor as the bottle was empty by the time we were done, her having drank most of it and wasn't even a bit tipsy.

Finishing off her drink Jane sent me a grateful smile, "Thanks for this Alex. It helped more than you could know."

"No problem Jane," I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze "You ever feel the need to talk about anything, and I do mean anything, feel free to come find me. We're friends after all."

"Sure thing," She got up and stretched, unintentionally giving me a small show so I quickly diverted my gaze. "Better get changed and head down to the mess. Dinners got to be nearly ready."

"Yeah you can go and do that," I too got up and headed for the door, "I don't quite feel like poisoning myself so I'll be down in my little corner cleaning my weapons."

"Really," Jane raised a brow, "When was the last time you ate?"

"That doesn't matter," I shot back as I refused to eat anymore of the food that was supplied to us, "I've gone longer without eating and that was when I was fighting through hell while knee deep in gore. I can wait until we get to the Citadel and get some real food."

Jane just shook her head in exasperation before shooing me out the door, though I could tell that she was trying not to smile.

 **-END-**


End file.
